He's A Keeper
by Infinity Lily
Summary: The story of Katie Bell and Oliver Wood throughout their years at Hogwarts, the stresses of the Quidditch season, exams and raging hormones, through the despair of the Second War and the life they could build together in the aftermath. Through all the tears, the laughter and the heartbreak, the loss and despair, Katie begins to realise one thing about Oliver Wood, he's a keeper.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for reading! Enjoy!**

**He's a Keeper**

_**Chapter One**_

I stared around me in awe, completely gobsmacked by what I saw. I had heard stories about the famous Platform Nine and Three-Quarters all my life. From my mother as a young child and then from my best friend Leanne and her parents as I grew up. I still remembered the distant look Mum would get in her eye as she spoke of it, describing the charged atmosphere, busy platform and magnificent scarlet steam train. As she had described the air was filled with slightly glittery, shimmering smoke from the engine, which ran only on magic. There were children darting all around the platform, calling out to friends, hugging their parents and adding to the cacophony created by the many voices, were the trains engine and the screeches of the owls that sat atop the trunks which I knew held all sorts of magical things.

I bounced on the balls of my feet in excitement and impatiently pushed my long hair off my face as I stared around me, trying to take in very detail of the busy scene. I was finally going to Hogwarts! The place I had dreamed about my whole life! I glanced at my Dad, who was standing beside me, he was staring, wide eyed, around him, a look of wonder on his tired face. Even as I watched his eyes darkened with sadness and I heard him sigh quietly. I knew this was hard for him. My dad was a muggle, it was my mum who I inherited my magic from. Dad had been surprised and a little hurt when Mum confessed to being a witch, but accepted her and her magic without much difficulty, he'd been excited to hear about the magical world that ran parallel to his own.

Mum had died though, when I was six years old she'd caught the muggle disease, cancer, in her liver. She'd had muggle treatment for it, but her magic didn't respond well and she had to be admitted to St Mungos. They'd gotten rid of the cancer, but the muggle treatment she'd had left her magically drained and more susceptible to disease. Six months later she'd caught a particularly nasty form of dragon pox which had evolved with the radiation she'd been exposed too. None of the usual potions worked and in the end it killed her.

Even though it was the muggle treatment that caused her weakness, Dad had trouble accepting that not even magic could save his wife. When I'd received my letter, confirming I was a witch he'd been very upset. He didn't try to stop me going, because he knew my Mum would've wanted me to learn how to control my magic, but he had been distant and I knew he hoped I'd refuse the offer. I hadn't and I couldn't help but feel guilty, like I was disappointing him.

I let go of the handle of my trolley and wrapped my arms around my Dad's waist,

"I'm sorry Dad," I said into his torso.

I felt his hand smooth my hair, then rest on my back,

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Baby Girl. It's what your Mum would've wanted," his voice hitched with emotion.

I pulled away to look up at him, surprised to see tears swimming in his blue eyes. The only time I could remember my Dad crying was when Mum died.

"I'm going to miss you Daddy," I said softly.

"I'll miss you too Kates."

"I'll write," I promised.

"I know you will," he managed a small smile, "I want to hear all about it. And what house you're in."

I smiled,

"I'm going to be in Gryffindor. I want to make mum proud!"

"She is proud of you Kates," his voice was choked again, "and I am too."

He squeezed me tightly,

"You remind me of her more everyday, and I know she's up there looking down at us and smiling because she knows what an amazing witch you're going to be, and what an amazing girl you already are."

I pulled away to smile at him,

"Thanks Daddy, I love you."

"I love you too, I'll see you at Christmas. Leanne's over there," he said, pointing to a girl and her parents a little way away, "why don't you two grab some seats. I'm sorry I can't wait to wave you off, I've got a meeting I couldn't get out of," he finished guiltily.

"It's ok Dad," I said reassuringly, "I'll send you a letter tonight," I gave him one last squeeze before heading off towards Leanne. I turned to wave at him and call out one last goodbye, before he was swallowed by the smoke and hidden by a large red headed family, who had just arrived on the platform.

"Katie!" Leanne cried, barreling forward and wrapping me in a tight hug, "It's been ages since I've seen you!"

I laughed, gently prying her off,

"I saw you two weeks ago in Diagon Alley Leanne, that's not ages!"

"Yes it is!" She said dramatically, then brightened up and exclaimed, "I can't believe we're finally going to Hogwarts!"

"I know, isn't it exciting!"

We reached her parents who greeted me happily. My mum and Mrs Bright, Leanne's mum, had been best friends at Hogwarts and so Leanne and I had grown up together. Even after Mum died, Mrs Bright had made sure we stayed close friends, she was my godmother after all.

"Are you nervous, Katie?" Mr Bright asked, he was a tall man with dark hair, that was streaked with a few grey strands and a permanent smile on his face.

"Not really," I replied truthfully, "very excited though!"

Mr Bright laughed and clapped me on the shoulder.

"How can you not be nervous?" Leanne exclaimed, "I feel like I'm going to be sick!"

I shrugged, the nerves would probably kick in later.

"You'd better get on the train soon girls," Mrs Bright said, checking her watch, "I expect it'll be leaving soon."

As she said it a whistle sounded, and around us students began to say their final goodbyes.

"Bye Mum! Bye Dad!" Leanne cried hugging both her parents.

"Bye Mr and Mrs Bright," I said politely, allowing her mum to hug me.

"Bye girls, have fun!" Leanne's Dad said waving.

"Be good, and don't forget to write!" Her mum added.

Together Leanne and I, got our trunks and my owl, Athena, onto the train and with a final wave for her parents we began looking for an empty compartment. We passed one filled with giggling older girls who were crowded around a blonde girl who was blushing profusely, and one filled with rowdy boys. Then one that was filled with green smoke. The next had only one boy in it, but he glared at us so darkly that we continued without pause. Finally, just as the train began to move, we found an empty one, and after heaving our trunks onto the luggage rack we collapsed into the seats. We passed the journey trading notes about Hogwarts, talking about the classes we were looking forward to and the houses we wanted to be in. I wanted to be in Gryffindor and Leanne didn't mind but hoped Gryffindor like her mum or Hufflepuff like her Dad.

"Just as long as it's not Slytherin!" She said, with a shudder.

I agreed, her parents had told us (what I later realised was a very PG version) about the time around when we were born. They warned us that some people in Slytherin might not be very nice and advised we keep our distance.

After the lunch trolley came around, our conversation turned to Quididitch, for my last three birthdays Leanne and her parents had taken us to see a game. I loved it and wanted nothing more than to fly myself. Mrs Bright told me that my Mum had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team for a lot of her Hogwarts career and that had she been alive, Mum would've taken me to see games for sure. Leanne enjoyed the games, but was terrified of heights, (she argued that she was actually afraid of falling) so didn't want to play herself. But I dreamed of playing, of the freedom and the adrenaline rush, the feel of the wind in my hair and the quaffle tucked under my arm. I'd been wanting my own broom for as long as I could remember, but they were expensive and my Dad argued I didn't even know how to fly. Mrs Bright also pointed out I wouldn't be able to fly even if I had a broom because I lived in a muggle suburb.

As the sky began to darken, Leanne and I changed into our robes, I was definitely nervous now. I felt like someone had released Cornish pixies in my stomach. Leanne was looking pale and was scrunching the corner of her robes in her fist nervously. Our conversation stopped as the train began to slow down, Leanne and I exchanged terrified looks. Neither of us knew exactly what the sorting process was, it was a closely guarded secret that her parents had refused to share. As the train stopped, I stood up and after a moment so did Leanne.

"Come on," I said hoarsely.

We got off the train, sticking closely together and heading for the huge figure who was calling for the first year students to follow him.

"He's giant!" Leanne whispered pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders. Luckily it wasn't raining, but there was a biting wind that cut through our uniforms, chilling me to the bone.

I nodded, shuffling after the figure. We followed two boys down a treacherous path, where I nearly took my eye out on a low hanging tree branch. There were a few muffled curses as the people around us tripped in the dark. Leanne let out a little scream and clutched hold of my cloak as she slipped, I in turn grabbed the boy in front of me as Leanne threatened to strangle me and pull me down with her. The boy managed to steady himself giving me enough time to get my own balance and steady Leanne.

"Sorry," Leanne said as she hurriedly let go of her choke hold on my cloak.

"M'ok," I gasped, fixing my cloak, "thanks," I added to the boy who was peering at us apprehensively, perhaps wondering if we were going to trip again.

"No problem," he murmured.

"This is bloody dangerous," Leanne muttered darkly as a branch whipped her cheek.

"What's life without a little danger?" I teased, jabbing her with my elbow.

"A safe one!" She countered, rubbing her side and scowling at me.

"It'd be boring Le-Le!"

She groaned at the use of the nickname I'd given her years ago. But brightened up as the path opened out onto the shores of a lake. There were several boats, scattered around, which, at the command of the huge man, people began to clamber into.

"No more'n four to a boat!" He called.

"Here Leanne," I said, tugging her over to one. The boy who'd stopped us from falling and the boy who was walking beside him followed us in awkwardly.

"Hello," Leanne said happily, her mood swings are unbelievable, "I'm so sorry about before."

In the faint light of the moon, I saw the boy blush slightly,

"Don't worry about it."

"You aren't hurt are you?" Leanne asked in concern.

"No, I'm fine," I boy denied hurriedly, glancing at his friend.

Leanne seemed unconvinced, but said,

"I'm Leanne and this is Katie," she nodded to me, "What're your names?"

I felt a little sorry for the two eleven year old boys sitting in front of us, they both stared at her, probably wondering why on earth she was so bubbly and maybe trying to figure out what she'd said. Leanne talked a little fast when she was nervous or excited and at the moment she was both.

"Er...I'm Keiran and this is Zac," the second boy said.

"Nice to meet you!" Leanne grinned.

The boats started moving and Leanne fell foward, into Keiran's lap. She jumped up hurriedly to move away, blushing furiously, at the same time as he tried to help her off, and I leaned forward to pull her back, she being the lovable walking disaster that she is, lost her balance and promptly fell into me, sending both of us over the side and into the water. The lake was freezing and my robes and cloak were very heavy when soaked with water. I came up spluttering, my hair plastered over my face.

"LEANNE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I shrieked, looking around for my best friend. I was surprised to see that our boat was upside down in the water. We'd capsized it. Merlin, Zac was going to think we were whack jobs.

I heard the large man yell something, but I was still looking for Leanne and the boys. Kicking my feet hard, I swam to the boat, trying to flip it over, it was too heavy so I resumed looking around for my best friend.

"Leanne?" I called, starting to get worried, a head popped up a few meters to my left, coughing violently.

"Leanne?" I repeated.

The person shook their head,

"Zac," he choked out.

The other boats had stopped now and kids were beginning to point at us, some were laughing, others were calling out advice. The man had got out a pink umbrella for some reason and was pointing it at the boat.

"Where's Leanne?" I cried, beginning to panic, Kieran was making his way towards the boat where Zac was clinging, still trying to cough his lungs up.

"Leanne!" I screamed hysterically, fighting to keep the panicked tears that were prickling at my eyes at bay.

I held onto the boat, trying to calm myself down, but couldn't stop the tear that trickled down my face. Suddenly the boat, was flipped over and the huge man, was grabbing me by the cloak and depositing me in it along with the two boys.

"Sir, my friend!" I cried, "Leanne!"

Before he could say anything, something erupted from the water. I nearly passed out as I realised it was a tentacle. Screams sounded from the other boats as they realised the same thing. Several more tentacles breached the surface of the water and slowly they moved towards my boat and dropped a wet bundle into it.

"Leanne!" I screamed, grabbing her.

She was coughing and spluttering, but seemed ok. I hugged her tightly, pushing her sopping hair off her face.

"You idiot!" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you're happy to see me Kates," she coughed, then began apologizing to the two drenched boys.

"Right, is everyone alright?" The large man yelled.

"Yes, sorry Sir," Leanne said.

He pulled his huge coat off and threw it over the four of us, before pointing his pink umbrella forward. The boats all began to move forward once more.

"Are you really alright?" Kieran asked Leanne.

She nodded,

"I'm so sorry, you're all wet and cold now, because of me."

"You're wet and cold too, so I think we'll forgive you," Kieran said with a smile.

Leanne smiled shyly back, then glanced at me anxiously,

"You're not really mad, are you Katie?"

I shook my head,

"Nah, you just scared me Le-Le. Besides I'm pretty sure that was the Giant Squid that just saved you, if that's not an adventure I don't know what is!"

Leanne laughed and ruffled my hair,

"You're crazy!"

"Well you're a walking disaster and I still love you!" I said defensively.

She laughed again,

"I suppose I can put up with your craziness then."

I smiled, relief coursing through me, I'd really thought for a minute there that I'd lost her. I grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze, before letting go. She smiled at me, knowing what I was trying to say.

"Well this'll be a story to tell," Kieran said brightly, grinning at Zac, who smiled slightly in return.

"Unfortunately it'll join the many crazy escapades of Katie and Leanne," I said.

"So, things like this happen a lot around you two?" Kieran glanced between us.

"Nope, only around Leanne, they never happen when I'm by myself," I nudged her with my elbow.

"I'm just talented," she said with a disdainful sniff.

"Yeah...talented..."

She elbowed me hard in the side,

"Shut it Bell."

"Look!" Zac suddenly said.

We turned to follow his gaze and my breath caught in my throat as I took in the magnificent castle, that was coming into view. The many windows were lit up, giving the huge building a golden, warm glow, and silhouetting it against the starry sky. It was a grand castle, with many turrets and towers. The building towered over us, but not in an intimidating way, it seemed to be welcoming us.

"Wow," I gasped.

"It's beautiful," Leanne breathed.

Kieran just nodded his mouth hanging open.

We drank in the sight before us, silent and motionless but for our shivers in the cold wind. When we passed under the outcrop and entered a tunnel, the spell was broken and I shifted slightly, and gave a huge shudder. I was freezing.

"So what house do you girls want to be in?" Kieran asked. I was beginning to think Zac didn't talk much.

"Gryffindor," I said confidently, while Leanne shrugged.

"I don't really mind, just not Slytherin!" She said.

"Ha that's funny, Zac wants to be in Gryffindor and I'm the same as you Leanne, I don't mind either," Kaiden smiled. He smiled a lot, even more than Leanne did.

I caught Zac's eye as Leanne replied with her usual cheerfulness,

"My money's on Huffelpuff," he whispered.

I glanced at Leanne, she was definitely cheerful and loyal, as well as hard working. And Keiran seemed that type too.

"Agreed," I said with a small smile.

We came to shore and the four of us clambered out of the boat. I stepped out of the warmth of the large coat so the others could have it, it was massive, but not big enough for the four of us to walk under. We all traipsed after the big man again, coming to a stop in front of a large door which he banged on sharply. It opened and the man stepped aside to let us enter. As we came to him he bent down to look at the four of us, he had a very hairy face, and dark eyes, but there was warmth in them and in his smile that took away from his intimidating hugeness.

"Yer' alright?" He asked kindly.

I nodded,

"Thanks, sir."

The others echoed me, and Leanne handed him back his coat.

"Ye can call me Hagrid, I ain't no sir," he said with a loud chuckle.

"Thank you Hagrid!" We chorussed before following our classmates inside.

They were all standing in front of a tall, black haired witch in emerald green robes. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and her thin lips were pressed tightly together, in a stern expression, that made me immediately wonder if I'd done something wrong. Nervously I held my cloak up so it wouldn't drip too much water on the ground. The witch lead us into a small room off the grand Entrance Hall. We crowded in there, looking around nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, my name is Professor McGonagall," the witch said, "The start of term feast will begin momentarily, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony, as your house is like your family. While you are here you will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitories, spend time in your house common rooms and eat at your house tables.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. During the school year your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few moments in front of the rest of the school, I suggest you take the time to smarten yourselves up and prepare yourself while you wait."

Her eyes lingered on the four of us, who were still dripping wet, Leanne had bits of weed caught in her hair, Kieran had mud smeared on his face and Zac's cloak was fastened under his ear. No doubt my hair was a mess too.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," Professor McGonagall said, "Please wait quietly."

She swept from the chamber leaving about twenty nervous eleven year olds to huddle in awkward silence.

"You have weed in your hair," I said to Leanne, my voice echoing in the silence.

There were a few quiet giggles at that, as Leanne immediately began trying to untangle her hair from the slimy lake plant. I picked a few pieces out for her, before turning my attention to my own hair. I tried to run my fingers through it, but it was mattered into straggly wet clumps. Bending over and flipping my hair down I gathered it up, twisting it into a knot and snapping the hair elastic on my wrist over it. Hopefully it no longer looked like something had died in there. Zac had fixed his cloak and Kieran had succeeded in smudging the dirt on his cheek. I fixed Leanne's collar for her and in doing so got a whiff of her hair, which smelt like fish and dirty lake water, surprise surprise. I surreptitiously sniffed myself, and wrinkled my nose. Note to self, no more swims in the Black Lake.

Professor McGonagall returned and upon her instruction we formed a line and followed her out of the chamber and across the Entrance to the Great Hall. It was beautiful in an odd way, lit by thousands of floating candles that hung in the air above four long tables, it was packed with people. The students sat at the four long tables, which were lain with shiny golden plates and goblets. A fifth table was raised at the top of the Hall, which was where the staff were sitting. I picked out Professor Dumbledore right away. He was exactly as he'd always been described, with his long purple robes and silvery hair and beard. He surveyed us with piercing blue eyes, over the top of his half moon spectacles. I glanced up at the ceiling and felt my breath catch in my throat, it had been bewitched to look like the sky, and was a blue black colour, dotted with thousand of stars. I wondered what happened when it rained, would we have to sit with umbrellas?

I looked down and reddened slightly as I realised all the students and staff were watching us progress down the hall. Taking a deep breath and mustering up my confidence I concentrated on not tripping over. I wondered if there was a spell to turn oneself invisible; if there was I desperately wished I knew how to cast it. Even single eye in the Great Hall lingered on the four of us, we were dripping water everywhere, Leanne still had a bit of weed caught in her hair and my hair no doubt looked like a terrible. Leanne went bright red, and huddled closer to me. I glared around the room, staring those who looked for too long down.

"Go for a moonlight swim did we Zac?" A boy in his fourth year called as we passed where he was sitting.

Zac blushed, but scowled at the boy as people around the hall laughed. Leanne let out a tiny moan and huddled deeper into her cloak as if trying to hide. I gently pulled the bit of weed from her hair and threw it at the boy. He was too busy laughing to notice it coming and it slapped him across the face. His expression was priceless, and his friends burst out laughing, Leanne let out a little giggle and Zac grinned broadly,

"Nice one," he said quietly.

I smirked at the boy over my shoulder and kept walking. Professor McGonagall sent me a disapproving look, but didn't comment, which I suspected meant she approved more than she'd be willing to admit.

We came to a stop in front of three legged stool with a battered old hat sitting on it. The rest of the students quietened down under Professor McGonagall's stern gaze, and then everyone turned their eyes to the hat. I found myself looking at it curiously, then jumped violently as a tear opened in its brim, and the hat began to sing:

_"A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was clean and new,_

_There lived a pair of wizards great_

_And a pair of witches too._

_They had a dream, a noble goal,_

_To teach the future race,_

_Together they established our marvelous school,_

_Upon this historical place._

_And so these famous founders four,_

_Though they were all good friends,_

_Couldn't agree on who to teach,_

_On who was worthy to attend._

_At last they came to a solution,_

_And so is was decided,_

_Each year they'd separate,_

_Into four houses divided._

_And so into my fabric and seams,_

_Was mighty magic wrought,_

_The way to find the proper house,_

_For each new student sought._

_And still today, here I am,_

_To take a look in your head,_

_And find the house where you'll do best,_

_And face the challenges ahead._

_"In Gryffindor the brave will go,_

_The chivalrous and true,_

_If courage is your boldest aim,_

_The Lion is for you._

_In Ravenclaw the intellect,_

_Is deemed a mighty prize,_

_If wit and knowledge are your love,_

_In the Eagle you'll rise._

_In Hufflepuff the patient ones_

_Persevere within our walls_

_If you're loyal till the end,_

_The steadfast Badger calls._

_In Slytherin, the resourceful ones,_

_Use cunning to achieve their ends,_

_If a deep ambition drives you on,_

_The Snake will find you friends._

_Divided like a compass rose,_

_North, East, South and West_

_Separate parts of a greater whole,_

_United they are best._

_Now pop me down onto your head,_

_So I can see within,_

_And without further a do_

_Let, the Sorting now begin!"_

All around the Great Hall people broke into applause, I clapped along with them, giving the hat a slightly apprehensive look. I turned to comment on the singing hat to Leanne, but she was still staring at it with her mouth hanging open. I nudged her as Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, could you please step forward," she said her eyes wracking over us sternly.

I felt considerably better knowing I only had to try a hat on, but Leanne looked positively green with nerves. Keiran was no longer smiling, but staring at the hat as though he was worried it might suddenly leap at him. Zac was shifting from foot to foot nervously and a small girl in front of him was shaking like a leaf.

"Andrews, Timothy."

Oh dear God they were doing it in alphabetical order. I watched as a fair haired boy, stepped forward, swallowing nervously, before sitting down and placing the hat on his head. He jumped violently and stared around wide eyed, for a moment, before relaxing,

"RAVENCLAW!"

Timothy smiled and took off the hat before heading towards the table that had burst into loud applause at the Sorting Hat's announcement.

"Applebee, Tamsin," McGonagall called.

A tall girl with long blonde ringlets stepped forward and was sorted into Huffelpuff. Then Belby, Marcus became the second Ravenclaw.

My stomach churned unpleasantly, as McGonagall looked down at her list once more,

"Bell, Katherine."

Merlin save me. I stepped forward on wobbly legs, and carefully placed the hat on my head as I perched on the stool. Then nearly jumped out of my skin, as a voice said, right in my ear,

"Ah, what have we here!"

I managed to keep my expression one of cool indifference as I knew every eye in the packed hall was on me, but I sent out a tendril of questioning thought in direction if the voice.

"Plenty of brains here, but not an academic drive," the Sorting Hat mused, "And you definitely value loyalty and hard work, but you don't have the even temperament Helga favours. But ambition, my my, Miss Bell, you certainly want to prove yourself!"

I sent a hard thought at the Hat, firmly telling him that he better not be considering Slytherin.

He chuckled,

"There really is only one place to put such a daring, stubborn individual. Good Luck Miss Bell. GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled out for the whole room to here.

I smiled broadly and caught Leanne's eye as I took the hat off, she sent me a thumbs up as I made my way over to the enthusiastically applauding table.

"Bright, Leanne," McGonagall called as I sat down.

I watched as Leanne stepped forward, I could see her shaking from here.

"Come on Le-Le," I murmured.

After a moment of deliberation the Sorting Hat yelled,

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Even though I wasn't surprised, I couldn't help my disappointment as I watched her hurry over to the Hufflepuff table. She glanced over her shoulder and our eyes met, I gave her a nod and encouraging smile. She smiled back in a relieved way, correctly interpreting my look as promising we'd still be friends.

A few Gryffindors around me, said hello and welcomed me to the table. They introduced themselves, but all the names blurred into one. I was feeling a little overwhelmed so feigned interest in the Sorting. Watching as Chang Cho, and Edgecombe Marietta became Ravenclaw then Fawley, Sullivan became Hufflepuff.

"It's a small group again this year," the head girl, who had introduced herself as Sarah, commented to the boy sitting beside her.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Not many people had kids during the war."

As Zac and I had predicted Kieran was sorted into Hufflepuff too. I was still the only first year Gryffindor. Even as I thought this Larkin, Benjamin became a Gryffindor followed by McLaggen, Cormac.

The two boys sat down on the opposite side of the tables to me, I glanced at them curiously. Benjamin gave me a shy smile and murmured a greeting before turning back to the Sorting, but McLagen stared unrestrained at me a cocky smirk on his face.

"You're one of the chicks who fell in the lake!"

I gave him a disdainful look, and turned to watch as Meads, Gertrude became a Slytherin.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" McLaggen said.

"Unfortunately I don't speak prat," I said with a deadly glare at him.

He looked confused for a moment as if trying to work out whether I was insulting him or not. Rolling my eyes I turned back to the front as Richmond, Viola also became a Slytherin.

"Simmons, Isaac," Professor McGonagall called.

I watched as Zac stepped forward, there were only two other boys left. I desperately hoped he'd be in Gryffindor, he seemed nice, if a little quiet, and if I had to go without any girls in my year in my house, I wanted Zac. I crossed my fingers as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I cheered loudly as a grinning Zac came to sit beside beside me.

"Nice one," I said, with a smile.

He smiled back, and we watched as Spencer, Cole became a Slytherin and then Woodbridge, Aron became a a Ravenclaw.

Professor Dumbledore then stood, he was a rather old, queer looking man, but obviously well respected, because the Great Hall immediately fell silent again.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" He said with wide smile, "I'm sure you're all hungry, so I'll save the start of term notices until after dinner. Tuck in!"

He spread his hands as he spoke the last two words and dishes piled high with a vide variety of steaming food appeared on the table. I eagerly followed the Headmaster's advice, piling my plate high and tucking into the food, which was delicious.

Around us the older students began to talk, they introduced themselves again for the others benefit, and mine too as I remembered more names now, and asked us questions about ourselves and we in turn asked them questions about the school.

"Are you on the Quidditch team?" I asked excitedly when the Head Girl, made a comment about last years Cup.

"No," she said, "But this prat is," she indicated the boy next to her, Malcolm I think his name was, who was too busy eating to pay much attention to the conversation. He looked up when she elbowed him though, to glare at her.

"Bloody hell Sarah!" He complained in a Scottish accent.

She rolled her eyes,

"Katie asked about Quidditch," she informed him, nodding to me.

"Are you on the house team?" I asked him with interest.

"Yeah, I'm a Chaser."

"That's the position I want to play!" I exclaimed.

He grinned,

"You'll have to wait until next year to tryout for the House team, but there'll be two chasing spots opening up so you have a good chance."

I opened my mouth to respond, but McLaggen jumped in, saying he played Quidditch too,

"I'm an excellent Keeper," he said arrogantly.

"I'm afraid my little brother has that spot," Malcolm said stiffly, "In fact, here he comes now."

I looked around to see the boy I'd thrown the lake weed at and another boy who bore a close resemblance to Malcolm walking towards us.

"Oh no," Zac muttered as he saw them coming.

"Hello, hello, hello!" Weed boy said, squashing himself into a non existent space between Zac and I.

"What do you want?" Zac asked mournfully.

"Can't I congratulate my little brother for making Gryffindor!" He said with an easy grin.

"You're squashing Katie," was Zac's only reply.

It made sense that they were brothers, they shared the same defined, aristocratic features and blue eyes, though Zac's hair was darker in colour. His brother turned to look at me and immediately leaped away,

"It's the weed girl!" He cried, making the people around us laugh.

"Are you scared of little first years now Ethan?" Zac teased his brother.

While Ethan fiercely denied that claim, Malcolm raised his eyebrows at me,

"That was you?" He asked with a touch of admiration.

I nodded, a small smile crossing my face.

"Nice!" Malcolm said raising his hand to give me a high five.

I laughed and slapped his hand.

"That was a really good throw!" Malcolm's brother said excitedly, "Ethan's face was hilarious!"

I gave a little shrug, but kept smiling.

"I'm Oliver Wood, by the way," he said holding out his hand.

"Katie Bell," I replied shaking his hand firmly.

"Do you play Quiddich Katie?" Oliver asked.

Malcolm laughed, and grabbed his brother in a headlock,

"Indeed she does, we've got ourselves an up and coming Chaser here Oliver!"

"Get off," Oliver said succeeding in pushing his elder brother off.

"This one's got a one track mind Katie. He was dropped on his head at birth don't worry about him," Malcolm said seriously, cuffing his brother on the back of the head affectionately.

"Oi!" Oliver scowled, "I most definitely am not the only one, you've been hit by too many bludgers!"

"See what I mean!" Malcolm grinned, "Everything's always about Quidditch!"

"Quidditch is pretty awesome," I said with a smile.

"I like her!" Oliver announced, flashing me a winning smile, "So what team do you support Katie?"

I smiled ruefully,

"The Harpies of course, girl power for the win!"

Oliver laughed.

"I like Puddlemere though too," I added thoughtfully, "They've improved heaps over the last few seasons and they play a tactical game, not like some of the other teams in the league."

Oliver's eyes lit up,

"Puddlemere's the best!" He agreed and began rattling off some statistics and commenting on their signature plays.

"Now you've done it," Malcolm groaned, "He'll never shut up now!"

I ignored him, captivated by both what Oliver was saying and by how open he was with his emotions. He was obviously very passionate about Quidditch, I could see it in the brightness of his eyes and the way he waved his hands around as he spoke. I took the opportunity to scrutinize his facial features. He had sandy blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes, the colour of melted chocolate, a strong jawline and high forehead. He was tall and lanky with some obvious muscle, from Quidditch no doubt, and overall very good looking. His Scottish accent was rich and warm, very word seemed to roll off his tongue.

"...and the Chasers are finally doing more than just the usual reverse passes and feints!"

"Their Porkoff Ploy is coming on nicely," I agreed.

Oliver beamed at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Oliver, I think you just met your soul mate," Ethan said jokingly.

I blushed and Oliver just looked at his friend in confusion,

"What?"

Malcolm snorted and ruffled his brother's hair,

"You are never going to get a girlfriend Wood."

Oliver looked completely baffled by the turn in conversation and I couldn't help but giggle. I, Katherine Louisa Bell, do not giggle. At least not normally. I contemplated this for a moment, before mentally shrugging and spooning my last mouthful of self saucing chocolate pudding and vanilla ice cream into my mouth. Ah...I could get used to eating like this!

"You obviously like Quidditch then?" Zac said quietly to me.

I smiled and nodded vigorously,

"I don't really play as such because I live in a muggle suburb. I don't even own a broom! It's always been a dream, sometimes when I visited Leanne, we'd get her parent's old brooms out and have a go on them, but they're pretty old and a lot of the magic's faded from them. They only rise a few metres off the ground and don't go fast at all. I've been going to the professional games for most of my life though, I can't wait for a Flying Lessons!"

Zac smiled faintly,

"Yeah, they should be fun."

"Do you play or follow Quidditch?" I asked him.

He shifted a little uncomfortably,

"Yeah I guess. I like flying and wouldn't say no to tickets, but I don't have a team I actively support."

I nodded,

"So are you a pureblood then?"

He made a face,

"Not technically, there's some muggle blood going back about ten generations, but my parents, grandparents and their parents are all magical. Are you a halfblood?"

"Yeah, my Dad's a muggle."

Before he could reply, the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood to address us,

"Now our bellies are full, I'd just like to remind you all that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students, there are a lot of dangerous creatures lurking in those trees, nothing to worry about so long as you stay away," he peered at us over his half moon spectacles, his blue eyes dancing.

"Mr Filch also asks me to remind you that there is to be no fighting or dueling in the corridors and informs me that he has added eleven more objects to the Prohibited items list. For the full 398 item long list, please consult the board outside his office," he paused to smile slightly.

"Now allow me to introduce, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Jameson! I know you will join me in welcoming the Professor and wishing him the best of luck."

A tall man with dark hair and heavy brows, that gave the impression he was frowning, stood to a polite applause.

"Information about Hogsmeade trips and Quidditch trials will be available on your House Noticeboards over the next few days. Now off to bed! Classes begin tomorrow!"

There was a splatter of applause as people began to clamber to their feet, and leave the Great Hall.

"Follow me, Firsties," Malcolm said with a grin.

Sarah slapped his arm and gave us a kind smile,

"We'll show you the way to Gryffindor Tower."

I stood up looking around for Leanne,so I could say good night, but I had no hope of seeing her over the heads of the much taller student. Zac who was a whole head taller than me, craned his neck too, but shook his head apologetically. I gave him a small smile, before we followed Sarah and Malcolm out of the Great Hall.

"The easiest way to get to Gryffindor Tower, is if you go right to the top floor," Sarah said, leading us up the marble staircase. I looked up in amazement, there were staircases going everywhere!

"There are a few shortcuts, you can take, when you know the castle better."

"Be careful though, the staircases like to change," Malcolm warned with a gleeful smile.

The two seventh years, lead us to a doorway off the Grand Staircase on the seventh floor, we followed them through it and down a corridor to the very end, where we came to a portrait of a very large woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" She said.

"Lacewing flies," Sarah replied, the portrait swung forward revealing a round hole in the wall, "Make sure you remember the password," Sarah said to us as we scrambled through, "She won't let you in without it."

The Gryffindor Common Room was a cosy round room, with squashy armchairs, a few bookshelves, some tables, already littered with sweet wrappers, articles of clothing and gobstones.

"Boys if you'll follow me," Malcolm said.

Zac smiled at me and murmured a good bye before following Benjamin and McLaggen up a staircase to the right after Malcolm.

"Come on, Katie, I'll show you your dormitory," Sarah smiled, "Because you're the only girl in your year and McGonagall didn't think you'd want to be by yourself, you'll be sharing a room with the two second year girls. Angelina and Alicia are great, I'm sure they'll love having you."

I nodded nervously, hopefully these Angelina and Alicia people were friendly. I followed Sarah up a spiral staircase to the left, we stopped outside a door which read. 'First and Second Year Girls' then someone had added, "Enter at your own Risk," underneath it.

Sarah knocked on the door, I was still trying to work out if the 'enter at your own risk' was a joke or if I should get my wand out.

"Angelina? Alicia?" Sarah called, opening the door.

A girl with long black hair braided down her back and dark skin turned around from where she was bent over her trunk, when she saw who it was she smiled.

"Hey Sarah, how were your holidays?"

"Good thanks Ange, this is your new dorm mate," she said, pushing me forward lightly, "Katie this is Angelina Johnson, Ange, Katie Bell."

Angelina smiled at me,

"Hello Katie, welcome to Hogwarts. Hey Alicia!" She yelled in the direction of a closed door.

An irritated girl with light brown, almost blonde hair, holding a toothbrush, opened the door,

"Be patient Ange, I've only been in here a few minutes!"

"Katie, meet Alicia Spinnet, I promise she's not always this snappy," Angelina laughed.

Alicia brightened up and gave me a friendly smile,

"Sorry," she said meekly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Katie, Ange and I were so excited to hear we were getting a new room mate. It can get boring with just the two of us!"

"What are you saying Spinnet?" Angelina asked in fake outrage.

"I'll leave you girls to it," Sarah interrupted, smiling slightly, "Good night!"

"Thanks Sarah," I said to the older girl.

Both Alicia and Angelina called goodbyes.

"So that is your bed, Katie," Alicia said, indicating the bed to the right of where I was standing. The dorm room was circular, which made sense, seeing as we were in one of the towers. There were three four poster beds with red velvet curtains spaced evenly around the room. Two doors, one to the bathroom and one to the staircase. Three trunks rested at the foot of the three beds, which had a small set of drawers beside them. There was a window, with a window seat in between my bed and the bathroom door and a tall wooden wardrobe between what I assumed were Angelina and Alicia's beds.

"Last year there was a desk where your bed is," Alicia continued cheerfully, "but we never used it for much more than dumping our books."

I smiled at her and moved over to my bed,

"Are you two the only second year girls?" I asked them.

"Yeah," Angelina answered, "but we're good friends with the three boys in our year."

I nodded and began unpacking a few things from my trunk, we chattered away about trivial things as we prepared for bed, they warned me that the Potions Master, Professor Snape, wasn't very nice and was extremely biased towards his own house, which was Slytherin.

"Make sure you fill two vials with your potion," Alicia advised.

"Yeah, he's fond of 'accidentally' knocking them if his desk and giving you a zero," Angelina agreed.

"Thanks, so who's the head of Gryffindor?" I asked.

"McGonagall," they answered together.

"Damn it, I bet she doesn't show favouritism!" I complained.

The two girls laughed and shook their heads regretfully. I then told them about how I'd fallen in the lake and Angelina jokingly said, she'd been wondering what the smell was. I'd laughed and had a nice hot shower before I scribbled a quick letter to my Dad, telling him about the feast and the sorting and my new friends Zac, Angelina and Alicia. I didn't say anything about the falling in the lake, but I mentioned how I was disappointed Leanne and I weren't in the same house and said I was excited for class tomorrow.

_"...Hopefully we'll have our first flying lessons soon! _

_I miss you already!_

_Love Katie."_

I signed off, before attaching the letter to Athena, my beautiful grey owl's, leg and opening the window so she could fly out. I said goodnight to Alicia who was reading and Angelina, who was brushing out her long curly hair, and muttering about how unmanageable it was, before getting into my bed. I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly, thinking so far Hogwarts had been a pretty awesome adventure!

**Thank you so much for reading! Please Review!**

**-IL **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, thank you so much for giving my story a chance! Enjoy!**

_This chapter is dedicated to __AvrilFrings _my one and only reviewer. Thank you :)

**Chapter**_** Two**_

I woke up early the next morning, the sun was only just rising above the horizon as I quietly slipped out of my bed and moved to the window. I slipped the hair elastic off the end if the braid I always slept in and pulled my fingers through my still damp hair. Even though I'd followed the Repeat step on my shampoo bottle, my hair still smelt of lake water. I glanced at my watch, it was very early. Going back to my trunk I grabbed my school uniform and slipped into the bathroom, where I proceeded to wash my hair again. Lathering the shampoo and conditioner on and rinsing it thoroughly. Once I had finished I got dressed and combed my hair out, it smelt much nicer now. Angelina was still asleep, but Alicia had pulled back her curtains and was gathering her own toiletries. When she saw me she smiled.

"Good morning, ready for your first day of classes?" She said not troubling to keep her voice down.

"Morning, yeah I guess," I replied in a hushed voice.

"Don't worry about waking Angie up," Alicia laughed, "That girl would sleep through the apocalypse!"

She entered the bathroom and closed the door, a minute later I heard the shower start to run. I made my bed, and fished my school bag out of my trunk, I was checking I had enough parchment, ink and a quill as well as debating bringing all my books, as I wasn't sure which classes I'd have, when Angelina's curtains opened. She was scowling darkly as she climbed out of bed.

"Good morning," I said warily.

"There's nothing good about mornings," she groaned in response, as she made her bed.

As she said it, Alicia exited the bathroom in a puff of steam, she smiled when she saw Angelina,

"Thank Merlin, you're up!"

Angelina glowered and entered the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I was a little confused, but Alicia smiled brightly,

"She's not a morning person our Angie. Let's go down to breakfast, she'll be fine after a shower and a cup of tea."

"Ok, are you bringing all your books, or will you come back here after you have your timetable?" I asked the older girl.

Alicia laughed,

"I'm far too lazy to climb all those stairs, you can narrow it down pretty easily. Don't bother bringing your Astronomy or Potions things. Snape does NEWT and OWL level students on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Astronomy is during the night."

"Right, I'll have to remember that, thanks."

I took my cauldron, scales, potions kit and book out of the pile that was stacked on my bed and left my telescope and star charts in my trunk. Today was a Tuesday so according to Alicia I wouldn't have Potions. I managed to fit four of my books into my bag, which I slung over my shoulder and carried the other three, as Alicia and I left our dormitory.

We chattered happily about Quidditch as we walked down to the Great Hall, I was lucky I had Alicia to remind me if the right direction, because the castle was huge and almost deliberately misleading. I was excited to hear that both Alicia and Angelina played Chaser as well, they were both going to tryout for the Gryffindor team this season.

"There's only one free spot, but it's always good for future openings if you've got your name out there, and there's always the reserves," she said.

I nodded, and eagerly asked her what sort if broom she had. We'd moved onto the professional league when we arrived in the Great Hall. I looked around for Leanne, but she didn't appear to be there yet. The tables were considerably empty though, it was still early. Zac was there though and was sitting alone at one end of the table. I lead Alicia over, sitting down across from him.

"Hey Zac," I smiled at him, "This is Alicia Spinnet, she's one of my dorm mates."

"You're Ethan's brother, aren't you?" Alicia said with a friendly smile, holding her hand out.

"Yeah, nice to meet you you," he said quietly, shaking her offered hand.

"How's your dorm?" I asked as I buttered some toast.

He shrugged,

"Nice."

"Nice?" I rolled my eyes, "You certainly have a way with words."

"The beds are comfortable," he elaborated.

"I know right!" Alicia chimed in, "I feel like I'm lying on a cloud!"

We looked at her strangely, she just grinned and shrugged.

"Have you been at the Firewhiskey again, Alicia?" A male voice asked behind me.

"It really is too early to be snorting floo powder, Miss Spinnet," another mocking voice added.

I turned around to see two red headed boys with identical smirks on their faces. In fact they were identical, down to mischeivous glint in their brown eyes. Clearly they were twins.

"Oh sod off," Alicia grumbled.

"I get the feeling we're unwanted Gred," the one on the right said.

"It's entirely possible Forge," the other replied.

They looked at each other, grinned and sat down. Ignoring Alicia's grumbles of protest.

"You haven't seen us all summer, one train ride and you're already sick of us!" One of them exclaimed in indignation.

"Katie, Zac, meet the infamous Weasley twins, Fred and George," Alicia said without enthusiasm, "You insufferable prats, this is Katie Bell and—"

"Hey you're the girl who hit Ethan Simmons with that piece of weed!"

I was starting to worry that seven years from now, when I graduated I'd still be known as the girl who threw a piece of lake weed at Ethan Simmons.

"And you're Ethan's brother!" The other twin grinned broadly.

They each grabbed mine or Zac's hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"It's, er, nice to meet you," I said in slight confusion.

The one shaking my hand winked roguishly,

"That was a bloody good throw, Katie Bell."

"Thank you?"

"Are you interested in—"

In much the same way as he had interrupted her earlier, Alicia leapt in and said,

"Yes, she's interested in playing as a Chaser next year."

"Brilliant, hear that George? Angie and Alicia here have got themselves some competition!" The twin, I assumed was Fred, said grinning at his brother.

"There's three chasers on a Quidditch team idiot," Alicia rolled her eyes.

Fred shot her an irritated look,

"You're confident."

Alicia flipped her hair over her shoulder, but otherwise ignored him.

"We'e trying out for the team too," George told me seriously.

"Beaters," Fred agreed.

"That's cool," I smiled, "When are the tryouts?"

The twins simultaneously rolled their eyes,

"Not sure yet, but I bet you anything they'll be held at some ungodly hour of the morning!"

"Charlie's always been a bit barmy."

"Charlie? Is he the captain?" I asked in confusion.

Alicia answered,

"Yes, and he's the best seeker Gryffindor's had in years!"

Fred and George scoffed,

"He's our brother!"

"So he's guaranteed to be a prat then?" I laughed.

"If he's related to you, he's probably actually dead awful at Quidditch!" Alicia said joining in my teasing.

"Ugly too," Angelina said sitting down beside Alicia.

"No fair!" George cried pointing at me, "It's two against three now!"

"Unless," Fred said turning to Zac, "You're on our side, right Simmons?"

"He's a bloke, course he's on our side!" George agreed.

"Nope, he's my friend," I smiled, "He's on our side!"

"He's a boy Katie Bell," Fred said patronizing.

"I knew him first!" I insisted.

"Barely!" George scoffed.

"Zac!" I cried, turning to him with a pout, "You're on my side, right!"

"Simmons!" Fred and George cried together.

Zac shifted uncomfortably, looking from me to the twins,

"Sorry," he muttered to the Weasleys, "Katie scares me more. She might try to drown me again or throw weed at me," he cracked a smile.

I gave him a hard look, deciding whether to be mad or not. He grinned at me, and I sighed, before turning to the Weasleys triumphantly.

"Told you so!"

"You're a traitor to your gender!" George cried dramatically.

"Although we'll let you off because Katie's not the only scary bird around here. Angelina's a nightmare in the mornings!"

"Sitting right here!" the black haired witch protested, throwing Fred a dirty look.

"Drink your tea, Angie," Alicia said, pushing a steaming cup towards her friend, before Fred could rile her up anymore.

I went back to back to my breakfast, I had finished my toast and was swallowing the last of my pumpkin juice when Fred and George stood and hurried over to talk to a burly red head seventh year who had just sat down at the Gryfindor table.

"We'll find out when trials are!" George called over his shoulder.

"That's Charlie," Alicia explained for mine and Zac's benefit.

I nodded watching the exchange, then over their flaming heads, I caught sight of a darker one, entering the Hall.

"I'm just going to go talk to Leanne," I said, standing up, "Want to come?" I asked Zac.

He nodded and stood up.

"Those twins are something else," I commented as we made our way over to the Hufflepuff table where Leanne and Kieran had just sat down.

"Yeah, they'd be scary to face in Quidditch."

I nodded in agreement, the twins seemed to know exactly what the other was going to do or say. I glanced over at Zac, he had dark brown hair and pale skin, his facial structure was angular and aristocratic with it's sharp cheekbones and long nose. His jaw was defined even at eleven and his dark blue eyes were framed by long lashes, that girl's everywhere would kill for. As if he saw me looking his mouth tilted up slightly. I decided I liked Zac, I mean obviously I'd liked him yesterday since I'd considered us friends last night, but there was something about him. He was quietly confident and didn't feel the need to fill in the silence with useless chatter. He was refreshing, saying what he felt needed to be said and not a word more, he was funny and he hadn't hated me or thought I was weird after everything that had happened yesterday. I felt comfortable around him, like I'd already known him for a long time.

We sat down across from Leanne and Kieran, who both smiled widely when they saw us.

"Hey Katie! Hi Zac!" Leanne said with her usual cheerfulness.

I smirked as I saw Zac blink twice in quick succession, he seemed to have forgotten, or more likely suppressed the memory of, how bubbly Leanne was.

"Hello," I said, "How's Hufflepuff?"

"Oh it's great Katie!" Leanne said, before launching off into a spiel about how nice everyone was, how 'cute' the common room's cushions were and how she was excited for Herbology, which her Head of House, Professor Sprout, who was apparently, 'really sweet', taught.

I caught Kieran's eye and he smiled ruefully, even I, who was used to Leanne's random outbursts of happiness and quick topic leaps had trouble keeping up and she started talking about how pretty her roommates hair was.

"Sounds great, Leanne," I interrupted when she paused for breath, "And how about you Kieran, do you like it as much as Leanne?"

"Oh yes, as she said, everyone's very nice," he grinned, "And what about Gryffindor, I hear you're up in one of the towers?"

Leanne paled slightly,

"Oh, I'm glad our Common Room's in the basement."

I smiled,

"It's great, everyone there's really nice too, they're all a little crazy!"

"Just like you then?" Leanne asked.

We laughed before Kieran turned to Zac,

"What about you Zac, are your roommates nice?"

He shrugged,

"The bed's are comfortable."

Leanne and Kieran didn't understand why that set me off into a fit of slightly exasperated giggles.

"Miss Bell, Mr Simmons," a stern voice said from behind us, "Students are encouraged to sit at their own house tables."

We turned guiltily to see Professor McGonagall standing behind us, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"I'm sorry Professor, we were just talking to our friends, we didn't realise it was causing a problem," I said trying to keep my tone polite. I mean it's not like we were causing trouble or anything!

She surveyed me over her spectacles, then almost smiled,

"No, you're not causing a problem Miss Bell, as long as you are discreet and do not do it all the time, I suppose I can allow it."

"Thank you Professor!" I beamed.

"Your timetables," she said, handing Zac and I each a piece of parchment, before sweeping away.

I looked at mine, curiously, I had four classes each day, with a break between the first and second and Lunch after the second. Today, Tuesday, I had Charms first, followed by History of Magic, then Transfiguration and Herbology after lunch.

I peered over Zac's shoulder to look at his timetable,

"Ours is the same," I informed him happily.

He grinned and looked across at Leanne and Kieran, who had just been given their own timetables by a dumpy witch I assumed was Professor Sprout.

"Ours are the same too," Kieran announced after comparing his to Leanne's.

I reached over and grabbed Leanne's looking at it then at mine. They matched.

"It looks like all first years have the same classes," I said, handing it back to Leanne.

"That's awesome," she beamed.

I nodded, smiling back, I was glad that even though we were in different houses, I'd still get to see my best friend. I opened my mouth to say something along those lines, but stopped when a pair of girls came and sat down.

"Oh there you are Leanne, we were worried when we saw you weren't in your bed," one of them said.

"Oh I agreed to meet Kieran in the Common Room last night so we could go down to breakfast together. I'm sorry I worried you," Leanne replied.

"Why are they sitting here?" the second girl with long blonde hair asked, giving me a disdainful look, I noticed her eyes lingered on my practical ponytail and skirt which wasn't about three sizes too small for me as hers was. I was surprised to see she was wearing a lot of makeup. I didn't even own makeup!

"These are my friends Katie Bell and Zac Simmons," Leanne began, "Guys this is Tamsin," she pointed to the blonde, "and Ella. They're my room mates."

"It's nice to meet you," Zac said quietly when I didn't immediately respond.

Tamsin's lip curled,

"You were the ones who fell in the lake."

I glanced at Leanne who's eyes widened beseechingly, and her cheeks coloured. I sent her a questioning look.

"Er, yes," Zac muttered, glancing at me, then at Leanne.

"We thought a swim with the Giant Squid would be a memorable start to our time at Hogwarts," I said with fake cheerfulness.

Tamsin, who I realised was the girl called before me in the Sorting, shot me a disgusted look and turned to talk to Leanne and Ella, who'd been talking to Kieran.

After a few minutes of Zac and I being completely shut out of the conversation, I began gazing around the hall. I smiled as I saw the Weasley twins still talking to their brother Charlie, who was looking distinctly disgruntled. I spotted Zac's brother and Oliver Wood, the Quidditch fanatic I'd spoken to the night before, sitting at the Gryffindor table, both of them were shoveling food into their mouths.

"Let's go," I murmured quietly to Zac, as Tamsin and Ella let out a particularly high pitched set of giggles.

"No argument there," Zac muttered back. Together he and I swung our bags over our shoulders and began to walk towards the exit of the hall. The tables were beginning to empty again, a sure sign that class would be starting soon.

"Katie, Zac, wait up!" Someone yelled.

We turned to see Alicia and Angelina hurrying towards us. We paused, allowing them to catch up.

"What do you have first?" Alicia asked.

"Charms."

The two girls smiled,

"We've got Defense, the Charms corridor is on the same floor, we'll take you there to make sure you don't get lost," Angelina said.

"Thank Merlin for that," I exclaimed in relief.

Zac murmured a quick thanks to them as well. As they lead us up the Grand Staircase, the two girls began telling us about Professor Flitwick the Charms professor.

"He's really nice, he hardly ever growls," Alicia said.

"Yeah and he's unbiased too, not like Snape," Angelina agreed.

"So Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts and the Library are all on the Third floor. The quickest way to get to the third floor corridor is through this door off the Grand Staircase," Alicia said, leading us through to a corridor.

"The Defense classroom is just down there," Angelina said, pointing to the left, "And the Charms corridor is down here."

We followed them around a corner, and up a small set of stairs to where another corridor met ours at a 'T' intersection.

"That's the Library," Alicia said, pointing to the left, where we could just see the entrance, "And here's the Charms classroom."

We came to a stop outside a closed door that looked exactly the same as every other door we'd passed. It would have taken us forever to find it by ourselves.

"Thank you so much!" I cried, grinning at the two older girls.

"No worries, do you think you can get back to the Great Hall for break?" Alicia asked.

I glanced at Zac, before nodding,

"We should be able too."

"We'll meet you there and we can point you in the right direction for your next class too."

"You two are amazing, thanks!"

"Yeah, we never would've found this without help," Zac agreed.

"We're happy to help,"Angelina assured us, "See you later."

The bell rang just as the two girls ducked back around the corner to the third floor corridor.

A few minutes later, a group of Ravenclaw's arrived with a Ravenclaw prefect who had obviously shown them the way. When Professor Flitwick arrived he was being followed by two Slytherin girls I recognised from the Sorting. The two girls had smug expressions on their faces, and I was a little impressed, I never would've thought to follow the teacher!

"Good morning class," Professor Flitwick squeaked, he was very small as Angelina had warned and balding, but he smiled warmly at us as he flicked his wand at the door and let us file in and find our seats. The desks were in rows of two, Zac and I sat down at one in the second row from the front.

He had just made his way to the front of the class, when the door banged open and Kieran, Leanne, two Hufflepuff boys and the two girls we'd met at breakfast came hurrying in. All looking worried, except for Tamsin, who glided in, inspecting her nails, not seeming to care that she was late.

Kieran apologised profusely, but Professor Fliwick just chuckled,

"Take your seats, you're not the last ones here."

Leanne glanced at me, and sent me a confused look, as she sat down next to Kieran, I quirked my lips in a half smile before turning back to Flitwick. The door banged open again and four Slytherin boys entered the room. Professor Flitwick greeted them in a similar way to the Hufflepuffs and began to take the roll.

"Here," I answered when he called my name.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather be swimming with the Giant Squid?" One of the Slytherin girls sniggered, she had pretty silvery blonde hair, which she flipped imperiously as she spoke. I think her name was Viola Richmonds if I remembered correctly from last night.

"He had a previous engagement," I replied with a stiff smile. Seriously I bet twenty years from now I'll still be known as the girl who fell in the lake on her first day of school and then threw a bit of lake weed at a fourth year.

"I imagine that happens to you a lot," the Slytherin said with false sympathy.

My eyes narrowed as I realised she had just straight up insulted me, I opened my mouth to reply scathingly, with a totally wicked come-back, when the classroom door opened for the last time and McLaggen and Benjamin came sprinting in.

"Get lost did we McLaggen?" I asked innocently instead.

He scoffed, but didn't reply as Professor Flitwick was happily welcoming them and asking them to sit down. As Flitwick began the roll again, I felt eyes boring into my head. I turned to Richmond and gave her a sarcastic wave. She flipped her hair and looked away.

"How is it, that in the short time you've been here, you've managed to tick at least three people off?" Zac asked quietly, sending a glare at Viola when he caught her glancing at us.

"What can I say?" I murmured back, "Apparently people are jealous of our stylish entrance into Hogwarts."

Zac snorted loudly, drawing odd looks from the people around us.

xxxXxxx

When the bell rang Zac and I made our way back to the steps that lead to the third floor corridor then continued along it until we came to the doorway off the Grand Staircase. It took us a few goes to get the staircases into a pattern that would get us to the ground floor, but eventually we made it to the Entrance Hall, where Alicia and Angelina were waiting for us. After break they lead us through a labyrinth of corridors on the first floor, to the History of Magic classroom.

"If you go along this corridor then turn right at the painting of the bearded man holding the book, you should find your way back to the Grand Staircase," Alicia said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Zac and I exclaimed as the two girls hurried off to their next class.

History of Magic turned out to be the most boring class in the world, it was the only subject taught be a ghost, so Zac and I had figured it was bound to be interesting. Angelina and Alicia had warned us that the most interesting thing, Professor Binns ever did, was arrive through the blackboard. I'd secretly thought they were exaggerating when they told us half the class ended up asleep.

After lunch Zac and I were the first to arrive at Transfiguration, with the help of Alicia and Angelina of course, who hurried off to Herbology after giving us a few directions on how to get to the Greenhouses for our next lesson. Professor McGonagall began her lesson as soon as the bell had rung, and I had a feeling she wouldn't be as kind to late comers as Flitwick had been. I was glad to see that Kieran and Leanne had made it in time, but slightly disappointed that Tamsin Applebee had obviously accompanied them. I did however get to smile gleefully when Viola Richmond and her friend got a stern, disapproving look when they barged into the room only seconds before the bell had rung.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said, her eyes sweeping the classroom, "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. Consider yourselves warned."

After she transfigured her desk into a pig and back again we were all very impressed,

"Excellent," I heard Zac murmur, fiddling with his wand eagerly.

But to his, and the rest of our disappointment, we soon realised we wouldn't be attempting animal and furniture transfiguration for several years. After copying very long complicated notes from the board, that made very little sense to me, but had Zac looking more excited than I'd yet seen him, McGonagall handed everyone a matchstick and invited us to change it into a needle. I prodded my matchstick with my wand and said,

"Permuto."

Nothing appeared to have changed, I gave the matchstick a hard look and prodded it harder, saying the incantation a bit more firmly. I scowled at the matchstick when it didn't become a needle as it was supposed to. Snatching up my parchment I read over the complicated notes we had made.

"...The idea of transfiguring an object into another, comes under the 'Transformation' branch of Transfiguration. In order to do this we must rearrange the subject's structure on a molecule level, in correlation with that of the intended product," I murmured quietly. I glared at my matchstick and then at my parchment, "Well what the bloody hell does that mean?" I said slightly louder.

I looked around the class moodily, somewhat heartened to see my classmates all wore varying looks of confusion, annoyance and disdain.

"Permuto!" I said loudly, jabbing the offensive matchstick violently with my wand.

"Try saying it more, peer-MUTE-o," Zac suggested, his voice slightly amused.

I looked at him, then down at his matchstick, to my irritation it was silver and pointy, and not a matchstick.

"How did you do that?" I exclaimed.

He shrugged,

"Transfiguration makes sense, it's logical."

"You sound like a Ravenclaw," I said.

He smiled slightly,

"You sound jealous!"

I scoffed, turning back to my matchstick, I'd show him! Ok Bell, you are rearranging the molecule structure of the matchstick and turning it into a needle. And even though you have no idea what molecule structure is you are going to force the damn matchstick into a needle! After giving myself that inspiring pep talk, I stared determinedly at my matchstick, imagining it, liquifying and flowing into the shape of a needle.

"peer-MUTE-o," I growled. I was not taking no for an answer!

To my utter surprise but satisfaction my matchstick turned into a needle. I dropped my wand and stared at in complete astonishment. Then I grinned,

"I did it!" I said in wonder, then turned to Zac, and repeated myself, "I did it!"

He laughed at my happiness, and patted my shoulder. I threw my arms around him, squeezing him tightly for a second,

"We did it Zac!" I crowed in jubilation.

He disentangled himself, blushing profusely, but I was too happy to care. Professor McGonagall appeared at my side, probably to see what the fuss was about. When she saw two perfectly transfigured needles she gave Zac and I a rare tight lipped smile,

"Ten points, each to Gryffindor for superb transfiguration," she said with a hint of pride.

I thanked her happily, and turned to beam at Zac, who was unable to contain a smile of his own. So far, I had to say, life at Hogwarts was pretty good! My mood didn't even dim when McGonagall set us a pile of complicated theory based homework.

xxxXxxx

I enthusiastically recounted my day to Angelina and Alicia that night as we ate dinner,

"Zac did it so fast! I couldn't believe he had managed to do it, and I didn't want him to get a big head or anything, so I just forced the matchstick to become a needle, and it listened!"

"If looks could kill, I can guarantee that the matchstick would've been dead," Zac said to the two girls who were listening with almost proud smiles on their faces, "You definitely scared it into transformation," he said to me.

"Where as you, were just brilliant enough to get it to do it willingly," I laughed.

He smiled,

"As I said, Transfiguration just makes sense to me. Herbology on the other hand..."

"Oh I completely agree with you there!" Alicia said.

"Plants are boring!" Angelina agreed.

Someone came and sat down next to me, as I finished off my dinner, I turned to see Oliver Wood smiling down at me. Ethan sat down on Zac's other side.

"So how was your first day of school ickle Zac?" his brother cooed in a baby voice.

Zac rolled his eyes and didn't answer, so Ethan turned to me,

"What about you Bell? Throw any weed at anyone today?"

I sighed quietly, but couldn't stop the smile that broke through,

"No, don't worry I reserve that treatment for especially prattish big brothers."

"Aw, don't I feel special!"

He turned back to his brother and began pestering him about all sorts of things in the irritating way I imagined all siblings did. Of course I wouldn't know seeing as I was an only child. A wistful sigh escaped my lips as I watched Zac's annoyed glare, that wasn't quite as angry as it appeared, deepen as Ethan began poking him in the stomach.

"You ok, Bell?"

I'd almost forgotten he was there, but as soon as he spoke my eyes snapped to him. Oliver Wood had a demanding sort of presence, and once I became aware of him again, I couldn't ignore him.

"Of course," I managed to say in a politely confused sort of tone.

Those chocolate brown eyes scrutinized me for a moment and I knew he didn't believe me, but he let it go, changing the subject by asking me how I liked Hogwarts. I responded with much more enthusiasm and we chattered away, with Angelina and Alicia chiming in every now and again, until Ethan tired of harassing his younger brother and stood to leave.

"See you, Katie," Oliver said with a smile, "Bye guys," he added to the others before following his friend away.

I heard Alicia sigh contently, her eyes following him and gave her a pointed look. She blushed and looked away, making Angie giggle.

That night, as we were climbing into bed I said casually,

"Everyone here's so nice, it's great to finally have people to talk about Quidditch with, Leanne never liked it much," I paused before adding, "That Oliver Wood really knows his stuff."

I watched Alicia intently from behind a curtain of hair and was rewarded by seeing her cheeks redden slightly. I wasn't the only one that noticed either, a wicked smile appeared on Angelina's face.

"He's quite good-looking too don't you think?"

Even though she wasn't aiming the question at me, I nodded absently in agreement. Alicia blushed even harder and refused to comment, sending the pair of us off into giggles.

xxxXxxx

The first week of classes passed quickly and before I knew it, the weekend had arrived, bringing with it a sense of relief. I had a mountain of homework already that I'd been putting off all week. That was why Saturday morning found Zac and I sitting in the library, a pile of textbooks surrounding us. McGonagall had us practising our matchstick to needle transformations and to my disappointment I had not managed to replicate my success. She also had us writing an essay on the fundamental theory behind transfiguration. Something that continued to bamboozle me. Still, I knew that if I put enough effort, determination and concentration into the spell I could do it! Snape, who was every bit as nasty as Alicia and Angelina had warned, had assigned us an essay researching the ingredients used to make the Wiggenweld potion, their properties, origins and other uses. For Charms we'd been set an essay on the origins of the Levitation Charm and in Herbology we had to give a explanation on how to identify Wormwood and then write an essay on its magical uses. I quickly grew tired of trying to wrap my mind around Transfiguration so moved on to finish my Potions essay.

I had finished everything but my Herbology and Transfiguration essays when Alicia and Angelina joined us after lunch. They'd been out flying, because the Gryffindor Quidditch trials were taking place the next day. I was trying to rephrase the bit in my textbook about molecule structure in a way that sounded like I knew what I was on about, when Zac threw down his quill with a satisfied sigh. He peered over my shoulder and corrected a spelling mistake, then frowned,

"Katie, you might want to read over what you've written," he suggested carefully.

"What've I done?" I groaned.

"It's just...I'm not sure you understand the concept exactly..." Zac trailed off when he noticed my murderous look. He pushed his essay into my hands, and told me to read it, and 'not try and kill me with your eyes'.

To my slight surprise, it made much more sense with the way he explained it, McGonagall uses big words and the textbook uses even bigger ones. Turns out the 'molecule structure' simply means the make-up of an object. So Transfiguration is basically changing the way one object is made up to form another, by rearranging its particles. No molecule structure involved! Zac pointed out that my explanation was in fact a definition of those two dreaded words and I responded by offering to permanently rearrange his molecule structure.

xxxXxxx

The atmosphere was tense when I woke up the next morning. Both Alicia and Angelina were already awake and dressing in silence. Merlin I hoped their friendship wouldn't suffer if one made the team. There was only one chaser spot open, the other two taken by Malcolm Wood and Cecilia Gardner, another seventh year. The three of us made our way down to the Great Hall without speaking, there Angelina fell on the food like she'd been starved for a week and Alicia stared at her full plate, her face a sickly pale green.

"You've got to eat something," I murmured to her, "Or at least drink."

At my prompting, she managed a piece of toast and a few glasses of pumpkin juice, before we left for the pitch, I was eager to see the Quidditch pitch, because I'd not yet been and also excited to see my friends and classmates fly and play the game I'd fallen in love with. I wished the girls and the Weasley twins who'd come to trial for the two open beater spots, good luck, before going to sit in the stands. About twenty minutes later, Ethan and Zac came and sat down with me. Ethan to watch Oliver and Zac to keep me company and see how the two girls and the twins went. Fred and George had taken a liking to Zac and he'd landed his first detention for being involved in one of their pranks.

The trials went rather well I thought, Charlie Weasley, seemed an adept Captain and he had two fellow seventh years with experience on the team to help him. Angelina flew brilliantly, she was by far better than any others who tried out except for Alicia, who was her equal in accuracy, but not as fast, or nimble in the air as Angie. When Angelina performed a barrel roll to dodge a bludger and managed to sneak a goal past Oliver who'd been on his toes all day, Charlie called time. He said he'd have the team posted on the noticeboard by dinner. Fred and George were more subdued than I'd ever seen as we trooped back up to the castle for lunch. They whispered to each other a bit, but did not speak to anyone else. Alicia seemed quite downtrodden and I suspected she knew Angelina had done better than her, the dark haired girl in question was giving off a strong 'don't touch me' vibe and did not speak either. Zac, never the most talkative at best, was also quiet. Ethan had decided to wait for Oliver, so that left me to try and diffuse the nervous, stressful atmosphere they were all creating. After I made a few remarks about how they'd all flown brilliantly, and about the weather, to no avail I gave up. Lunch was also eaten in silence. After a while I spotted Leanne and Kieran at the Hufflepuff table, thankfully free of their housemates. I excused myself and was quickly followed by Zac, the four of us spent the next hour chatting happily, until Tamsin Applebee and the other Hufflepuffs arrived.

Zac and I retreated to the Gryffindor Common Room, where my two roommates were attempting to finish History of Magic homework. They spent most of the time glancing at the boys staircase where I assumed Charlie had disappeared. Zac challenged me to a game of Wizard Chess to pass the time, I was hopeless and he was nearing his fourth victory when Alicia and Angelina simultaneously sprung to their feet and practically teleported to the noticeboard where Charlie was pinning something. I stood and made my way over, to where a small crowd had formed. As I suspected Angelina had been named the third starting chaser, while Alicia had been made the reserve. Fred and George Weasley were the new beaters also.

"Congratulations Angie!" I said, giving her a hug, "That's awesome!"

She beamed at me, in a dazed sort of way, as if it hadn't quite sunk in yet. I turned to Alicia, who was staring at the board a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Congratulations Alicia!" I said, hugging her too, "Making the reserves is really good for a second year and Malcolm and Cecilia are leaving this year, so you're practically guaranteed a spot on the starting team next year!"

She nodded, before turning to Angelina and giving her friend a huge hug. A pair of red heads popped up beside me, each sporting a huge grin.

"Congratulations!" I exclaimed for the third time, their smiles only got wider.

"Thanks Katie Bell," The one I assumed was Fred said. George wasn't so pretentious as to call me by my full name.

Alicia made a huge effort to be happy for Angie and the twins, but I knew she was still disappointed, which was only to be expected. Alicia was a brilliant flyer, but Angelina had natural talent, the sort of talent I desperately hoped I had.

xxxXxxx

When the notice appeared on our noticeboard the next evening announcing the beginning of Flying lessons, I was filled with mixed emotions, on the one hand I was exuberant to finally fly a broom for real, but on the other I was terrified it would all have been for naught and I'd be terrible. All week, the first years traded stories about their skill on a broom. McLaggen tried to tell me he'd flown through a tornado and when he'd played Quidditch with his cousin, who was a reserve Chaser on the Tornadoes (go figure) he'd saved all his attempted goals. I'd rolled my eyes and ignored him, but was rather put out to hear Tamsin Applebbe, had been flying a broom since she was six and had personally met Gwenog Jones and Wilda Griffiths, my two favourite players on the Harpies. It was her particularly loud boasting during Herbology on Tuesday that made me suck up my pride and ask Angelina and Alicia for some pointers.

"Ok, I'm going to hand you my broom, Katie, and I want you to mount it as you would if you were going to kick off," Angelina said authoritatively.

I reverently took her treasured broomstick from her and straddled it as she'd asked. Alicia and Angelina walked around me, and I shifted self-consciously from foot to foot as they silently evaluated me.

Both of them smiled finally,

"Your grip's almost perfect," Angie said appreciatively, "If you just tuck your elbows in, which is much easier to do in the air, you'll be perfect."

"Yeah, your posture and everything is great too," Alicia agreed, "Most people sit too far up the broom, or they sit up too straight. It's important to have strong stomach muscles to play Quidditch, you need them to keep the most balanced position and to stop your back from hurting. Crouching over a wooden stick is not easy on your lower back, let me tell you!" she groaned, massaging her own back.

"You're a natural at this Katie," Angelina said encouragingly, "If you keep your elbows tucked, and your stomach muscles tensed, you'll be brilliant."

When Zac and I arrived for our Flying class, which was with the Hufflepuffs, joy oh joyous joy, I was feeling marginally better about the whole thing. Leanne however looked ready to throw up. Being the awesome best friend I am, I convinced her we wouldn't be going any higher than we did on her parents brooms, which was probably a lie seeing as theirs went about a metre off the ground at best. When Madam Hooch, our flying instructor, arrived, she ordered us to stand beside one of the brooms that had been lain out on the grass for us. I'd heard Alicia and Angelina complain about how slow the school brooms were, but right now, a broom was a broom and all I wanted to do was grab it off the ground, mount it and kick off.

"Finally, I though Bell was going to wet herself with excitement," I heard Applebee say in a carrying voice to Ella, the only other first year Hufflepuff girl, besides Leanne as they moved to stand beside a broom. I sent a challenging look at her, but otherwise ignored her comment.

"Stick your wand hand over the broom and say 'Up!'" Madam Hooch commanded.

"UP!" We all shouted.

To my surprise and delight, the broom jumped to my hand at once, mine was one of the three that did. Zac's had jumped half-heartedly, Leanne's hadn't moved at all. Unfortunately Applebee and McLaggen's were the other two that rose. Both of them were practically oozing smugness.

"Up," Zac said firmly, his broom jumping to his hand, on his second attempt.

Madam Hooch then instructed us to mount the broom, and in the same fashion as Alicia and Angelina had the night before she critiqued us, correcting everybody on something, until she came to me. I had followed Angelina's advice and kept my elbows tucked in and my stomach tense. Madam Hooch prodded my stomach lightly with her finger, she smiled at me.

"Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss..."

"Bell," I supplied, unable to stop the grin from sliding onto my face.

She peered at my face, as if she was looking for something, then smiled in a proud way,

"Ah yes, Katherine isn't it? Caroline's daughter?"

I could only nod, surprised that she knew my mother. They were about the same age I realised.

"I was your mother's Quidditch Captain," she told me quietly, "Caroline could've gone on to play professionally if she'd wanted. She was a brilliant player and I can see you've inherited her natural gift for it," she gave me one last smile, before addressing the class, "See how Miss Bell is gripping the handle? That's how you should all be holding it, not in the death grip most of you are. And see how she has her elbows tucked in," she said to Tamsin, who was opposite me, "You need to keep yours in and tense your stomach muscles too!"

Tamsin sent me a look that could only be described as murderous, I smirked at her in response. Take that Applebee!

"Loosen your grip!" Madam Hooch barked at Leanne, who's knuckles were white with strain.

"Sorry ma'am," she murmured, bit did little to unclench her fingers.

"Now when I blow my whistle I want you to kick of hard from the ground, hover for a few moments, by keeping your broom steady, then lean forward slightly, to come back down," Madam Hooch said after she had finished correcting everyone, "On my whistle, three, two, one," she blew her whistle shrilly. I followed her instructions, a bubble of happiness causing a wide smile to spread across my face as I pushed off, rose a few feet in the air and paused long enough to feel the slight breeze toy with the loose bits of hair that had escaped my ponytail, and to glance around to where my classmates were doing the same with varying levels of success. I leant forward and slowly sank to the ground after about ten seconds. Zac landed next to me, without too much difficulty, but opposite him Kieran stumbled. On my other side, Leanne had risen perhaps half a metre from the ground, and held that position for barely a second before landing again. Applebee had pulled it off without a hitch, but Madam Hooch had yelled at her to keep her elbows tucked in.

I grinned down at the broom, the wooden handle felt so familiar in my hand. The urge to push off from the ground and zoom high into the sky grew even larger as Madam Hooch told us that if we felt comfortable we could fly around a tree about fifty metres away and come back.

"Do not rise more than five metres off the ground!" she ordered.

I didn't need more invitation than that. I pushed off hard and instinctively crouched lower across the broom, as I shot forward, I mentally urged the broom to go faster. A bubble of laughter escaped my throat as I felt the wind on my face, it was everything I had imagined and more, for the first time in my life I felt like I belonged. I'd found something that was beautifully, wonderfully, naturally, easy. I didn't need to be taught this, I just knew. The broom was like an extension of my body, I wanted to do higher so I instinctively lifted the handle, I wanted to go even faster so I leant forward further. The fierce joy I felt was all consuming and I couldn't stop beaming as I rounded the tree, sharply and shot back, going as fast as I could. I was free, I felt like I could do anything I wanted, I felt invincible. When I reached the spot where Madam Hooch was standing, I pulled the handle back and came to a screeching stop, (well if their were any brakes to screech, it would've been a screeching stop), and reluctantly landed back on the ground.

"That was really something, Miss Bell," Madam Hooch said, the proud smile back on her face, "Take another five points for Gryffindor."

I beamed at her as I thanked her, still high from the adrenaline. I'd been the fastest by miles, Applebee and McLaggen didn't land for another twenty seconds, some of the rest of the class, taking several minutes longer than me.

xxxXxxx

My good mood lasted for the rest of the week and through the weekend. Not even double Potions on Friday afternoon could bring me down from Cloud Nine. I wrote a whole three pages to Dad, bursting with news about our Flying Lesson. There was absolutely nothing on earth, in the magical or muggle worlds that could even begin to compare to the euphoria I felt when flying. None of my troubles mattered, all of my baggage, all my worries faded away. It was just the wind in my hair, my heart thumping and the size of my nerve.

For the next few weeks I went down to the Quidditch pitch with Alicia and Angelina whenever we could find the time. We practised everything, throwing the quaffle to each other, shooting goals, rolls and maneuvers in the air that we could use to dodge bludgers. Angelina even had us hanging upside down, by only our legs to build up our stomach muscles. Soon the three of us had even began practising our own plays, and even started going for runs. Well I did, nothing could keep Angie from her sleep, and Alicia confided that she had no desire to run more than she had to, she occasionally joined me in my morning jog around the lake, but preferred to sleep in, leaving me to go by myself, which I didn't mind too much, Hogwarts was always peaceful that early in the morning. I was on one such run, when I spotted another figure running too, they were on the other side of the lake and running slightly faster than me so I didn't catch up, but when I jogged back to the castle and saw Oliver Wood drenched in sweat, and stretching his muscles I realised it must've been him.

"Hi Oliver," I said breathily, coming to a stop and trying to catch my breath.

He looked up in surprise, but smiled when he saw me,

"Katie Bell, have you been running too?"

I nodded,

"Yeah, most mornings I run around the lake."

"And here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to get up this early for exercise," he laughed, "I normally run around the Quidditch stadium, but I fancied a change of scenery today."

"The lake's always beautiful at this time of the day," I said as I stretched out my calf muscles.

"Quieter too."

I laughed, nodding my agreement,

"So you run, for Quidditch?" I guessed.

"Of course, there's more to the game than just sitting on a broom after all," he smiled.

"Exactly."

We shared a smile and began walking back to the Gryffindor common room in companionable silence, until Wood took it upon himself to break it.

"I've seen you out there practising," I saw him glance at me, "With Angelina and Alicia. You're good Katie, really good. Better than Angie even."

I blushed, shaking my head,

"Angelina looks like she was born to play Quidditch," I laughed.

"Aye," he conceded, "But when you fly, you look like you're dancing. It looks like the broom is a part of you. You seem to glide through the air, and you full off those moves like they'e nothing."

I could feel my cheeks, they were practically glowing hot now,

"Thanks Oliver. Flying, it just feels...right," I smiled unconsciously, before turning to look at him, anxiously, "Does that sound weird?"

"Not at all," he said with a reassuring smile, "I know exactly what you mean."

"Anyone else would think I'm crazy," I laughed.

He joined in,

"Well then Katie, we'll just have to be crazy together. Quidditch obsessed, crazies, who willingly give up their sleep for the greater good of their sport."

I gave the password to the Fat Lady and together we entered the Common Room.

"You know Katie," he said, pausing to look at me, "Maybe we can run together sometime? To mix it up a bit, I don't know about you, but I get bored running the same route everyday."

I felt my stomach flutter oddly and my cheeks heat up again. For a moment I was tongue-tied, but forced myself to nod,

"Yeah, I'd like that."

He grinned at me and I smiled back, before waving a hand and climbing the girls' staircase so I could go have a shower. As I washed my hair, the ghost of a smile crossed my face, as I registered that Oliver Wood just got me. You know, Alicia did have a point, he really was quite good looking.

**Thanks for reading! And an extra special thank you to**_ AvrilFrings_** for your wonderful review! Just so everyone knows, daily updates will most likely not be a regular occurrence, these chapters take HOURS to write! You're just lucky I'm on holiday! **

**Please Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

As October came and went my days began to take on a pattern, I woke early and met Oliver in the common room, we'd go for our morning run, most often in companionable silence. Which was largely due to the fact that Oliver had much longer legs than me, and was a lot fitter. My pride would not allow me to ask him to slow down, so I was forced to run faster than I ever did by myself, therefore my ability to talk was greatly hindered as I spent the first few weeks, trying not to pass out or throw up from lack of oxygen. However, slowly my gasping breaths, became steady enough to permit some conversation and I found I liked Oliver. He was funny in a way that wasn't intimidating, and either very kind or completely oblivious as he never once mentioned my inferior fitness. I found I could talk to him about not just Quidditch but other things too. We spoke of mundane things really, but slowly I began to piece together an identity, a person, and I knew he was doing the same to me. For example, he learnt I'd always wanted a sibling, and in return he confided that he was worried his parents wouldn't support his decision to play professional Quidditch. Most things about Oliver Wood were Quidditch related.

"They think it's just a phase, they don't realise how serious I am about playing. To them it will always just be a game."

"I'm sure they'll support your decision if they know how passionate you are about it," I said, although at the same time I was reflecting that both Leanne's parents and my Dad thought my own Quidditch obsession was nothing more than a girlish fantasy I'd grow out of.

"You haven't met my parents," Oliver replied with a humorless laugh.

With November, came the start of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor just scraped a victory against Slytherin in the first match, thanks to Charlie Weasley's superb seeking skills. The three chasers didn't work well together, both Malcolm and Cecilia, seemed reluctant to pass to Angelina, and even they, though they'd played together for a number of years now, didn't flow as well as I'd expected. Cecilia and Angelina were being shoved around, by the much larger Slytherin players and Angelina earned herself a broken nose and eye socket when she tried to shove back. Oliver had played well, but was hit by a bludger early on. He played on with a shattered arm, but when you're fifty feet in the air and you only have the use of one arm, defending the hoops is rather challenging. He did very well considering. Nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix overnight of course. In the next match Ravenclaw had flattened Hufflepuff, putting them in first place for the cup.

Alicia and I continued to practice Quidditch, but we were seldom joined by Angelina, who had enough practice in the long training sessions Charlie Weasley was inflicting upon his team. She staggered back into the Common Room, groaning about her aching limbs most nights, before burying herself under a pile of homework. I was therefore not surprised when an apologetic Oliver informed me he wouldn't be able to run every morning. Secretly I was pleased, as it meant I could sleep in, my running schedule relaxed to three days a week as opposed to five. With the early starts and late nights that homework and flying practice implemented, I was almost always tired.

Before I knew it December had arrived and by the beginning of the second week, Hogwarts was covered in a light dusting of snow and I was gathering my things to return home for the holidays. I was sitting with Zac, Alicia, Angelina, the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan, at lunch on the last day of term, and we were happily discussing our plans for the holidays.

"I'll be visiting my grandparents in Ireland, I expect," Alicia said without much enthusiasm.

"Oh come on," George said with a grin, "They can't be as bad as our Great Aunt Muriel!"

"I think I'd rather take remedial Potions with Snape than see her," Fred groaned, "If she makes one more comment about my freckles, I might just strangle her!"

"You'll have to beat Charlie to it, Muriel's always trying to make him cut his hair."

"And the last time she saw Ginny, she told her she was extremely shapeless, and an arranged marriage might be the only option."

"Seriously?" Alicia asked incredulously.

"Isn't Ginny only nine?"

Fred and George nodded their heads in response to Angelina's question.

"She sounds delightful," I said sarcastically, "Your Aunt I mean."

"Oh she is," George said darkly.

"Comes over every Christmas. I swear Mum only puts up with her, because she's bloody rich and she's bound to drop dead any second now."

"Nah, that's the only reason we put up with her. She's the only family Mum's got left."

I knew from Angie and Alicia that Mrs Weasley's brothers and parents had died in the First Wizarding War. I glanced down at my lap, suddenly unable to meet anyone's gaze.

"What about you Lee?" Alicia asked, in an effort to change the subject from the grim path it had taken.

The dark skinned boy shrugged,

"Family stuff, I guess."

I frowned, in my mind they were all lucky to have families to spend Christmas with. My maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother had died when I was little, and my Dad's father lived in Spain. My father was half Spanish and had grown up in Spain, his parents, particularly his Spanish father hadn't been too happy when he'd moved to England and married an English woman. Especially when he refused to return after Mum had died. They weren't exactly close, and I'd only met my grandfather once, when I was very young. I had a vague memory of a large man with a harshly musical accent and stern face. It was always just me and my Dad on Christmas Day, although Leanne and her parents had taken to spending Christmas Eve with us since Mum had died. I remained quiet as my friends continued to complain about their relatives, I certainly didn't begrudge them for it, it seemed normal to have complaints about ones family members. That din't stop the slight pang of sadness I felt as I reflected how alone I was though. As if he sensed my thoughts, Zac bumped his shoulder gently against mine and when I looked up he smiled at me, I returned it and bumped his shoulder back in silent gratitude.

xxxXxxx

Zac and I made our way to the dungeons for our double period of Potions, our last class before the holidays, I had a feeling Snape would be even worse than usual today. It'd be his last chance to scare us before Christmas, and I had no doubt he'd take advantage of it.

Sure enough when Zac and I took our customary seats at the back of the classroom, Snape stalked in, his cloak flapping behind him, making him look even more like a large bat than normal. He flicked his wand at the board,

"Today," he sneered, his eyes wandering around the class "You will be attempting to make a Cure for Boils. I don't expect any of your potions to be adequate," his gaze lingered on Leanne and Kieran who had not been very successful in their brewing of the Wiggenweld potion, or their previous attempt at the cure for boils potion we had done last week, "however, this will be your final mark for this term."

It was so like Snape to set a test for the last period on the last day before the Christmas holidays! I exchanged a look with Zac, he was looking a little nervous, I was just annoyed. I pulled my cauldron and potions kit out, muttering angrily about how teachers want to make their students lives pure hell. I liked Potions, but like most sane people in this school, I did not like Professor Snape. In Potions you followed the recipe if you wanted a text book perfect potion, but with a few subtle changes you could add your own flare and make it extra special. It didn't have complicated theory, or equations to remember like Transfiguration, I found it more interesting than Herbology, and it was far better than History of Magic! Like Charms their were guidelines to follow, but some of those guidelines were very flexible, allowing for improvisation. And improvisation was something I was good at.

Soon the classroom was sweltering hot and filled with strange smells and various colours of smoke. I waved my wand above my cauldron, brushing some hair out of my eyes, then sat back in my seat. The potion had to boil for 33 minutes now, I looked around the class noticing I was the first to have reached this stage. Beside me Zac was scowling darkly at his own potion, according to the text book it should have been a light pastel blue, Zac's was more of a royal blue.

"You need to turn the temperature up," I said quietly, trying not to attract Snape's attention, "Heat it at 250 degrees for 12 seconds."

"The book says 10," Zac muttered absently, as he moved to follow my suggestion.

"The book also says four measures of crushed snake fangs, it's more like four and a half, that's why your potion is so dark, you didn't add enough," I murmured from the corner of my mouth, jabbing my finger at the offending line in the recipe.

"How do you even know this?" Zac whispered, as he watched the temperature gauze and timed 12 seconds carefully.

"It's more important to get the characteristics right than follow each step exactly," I told him, leaning forward to glance into his cauldron with the pretense of reaching for my knife.

Zac looked from me to his now much pale orange potion, which was exactly how his potion should be after heating, then shrugged.

"Thanks Katie."

"No problem," I whispered back with a satisfied smile, pleased that I'd helped him fix his potion.

I watched as Professor Snape made his rounds around the classroom, making sneering comments on my classmates less than perfect potions. His presence did make it hard to concentrate on counting the amount of snake fangs you'd added and measuring the precise temperature of the flame. When he reached Zac and I, he looked at my potion, which was coming along nicely and sniffed contemptuously, but didn't say anything. However when he looked at Zac's his lip curled.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Bell, this exam is to be conducted in silence! Although I suppose it's difficult to repress your natural need to show off!"

I shot him an angry glare, but did not respond, knowing it would only lose me more points or give him an excuse to fail my potion. On the other side of the room the Slytherins sniggered, and Viola Richmonds sent me a smug look.

I scowled down at the horned slugs I was preparing, I had prepared five instead of the instructed four, just in case the textbooks instructions needed tweaking again. I'd already inked in my adjustment to the snake fang amount.

Snape followed my gaze and sneered down at me,

"I believe the textbook says four horned slugs Miss Bell, or are you unable to count?"

I swung around to look at him,

"Sometimes the textbook needs to be adjusted to create the desired effect."

I heard Zac's sharp intake of breath and suddenly the silence in the classroom became ominous, nobody had ever spoken back to Professor Snape in our class before and the other students were staring at me with varying expressions of shock, smugness and terror.

"Ten points from Gryffindor Miss Bell!" Snape said angrily.

"Why?" I demanded, "I've already changed the measurement of snake fangs to 4 and a half in order to achieve the pale blue colour described and in the Wiggenweld potion I stirred it 12 times clockwise and then 3 times anti clockwise to change it from orange to yellow, instead of only 13 times clockwise! I'm simply preparing for the possibility that the recipe will need to be tweaked to make the potion correct!"

Snape looked angrier than I'd ever seen him,

"Another ten points from Gryffindor Miss Bell and detention on the first Saturday of term. Three o'clock in my office. And I think a zero for this potion is required too." He withdrew his wand and with a flick my potion which was perhaps only ten minutes from completion vanished.

I stared at it for a moment, before turning to give Snape my most murderous glare. It was only the swift jab Zac gave me in the ribs that stopped me from insulting him in the most vile and explicit ways I could think of. Instead I turned back to my slugs and after brutally decapitating them to release my pent up anger I gathered my equipment and packed it away, spending the rest of the lesson glaring violently at the back of Snape's greasy black head, wishing he were a slug.

As soon as the bell went I stomped out of the classroom without a word and made my way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, giving anybody who got in my way a deadly scowl. How bloody unfair was that? I knew I was right, and I knew Snape knew I was right too. Bloody git. I unconsciously growled out loud drawing curious stares from a group of second year Hufflepuffs.

"What are you looking at?" I demanded angrily, walking faster.

"Mistletoe," I ground out to the Fat Lady, and ignoring her reproachful look I wrenched the portrait open and stormed in, slamming it behind me.

I stomped up the stairs to my dormitory, ignoring the inquiring glances my housemates sent my way. Pushing open the door to my dorm room, I threw my bag down then flopped onto my bed. I'd let my temper get the better of me, I shouldn't have spoken to a teacher like that. But at the same time I was furious at the injustice of the harsh punishment and upset that I'd not only failed Potions but also earned my first detention. Dad was going to be thrilled. Still I wasn't sorry for what I'd said, I stood by it and if that meant I lost points for my house and earned a detention then ok, but failing the entire term? No I was not happy about that at all. Angrily I punched my pillow, pretending it was Snape's overly long nose.

A few minutes later the door opened and Angelina and Alicia came in, they sat down on each side of my bed and Alicia placed a hand on my back.

"Zac told us what happened, that was so unfair!" Angelina said in outrage.

"I can't believe you stood up to Snape though," Alicia grinned, "You're so brave, he's terrifying!"

I snorted, but didn't comment.

"What a git though," Angelina insisted, "I can't believe he failed you like that!"

"He's an asshole," I said into my pillow.

"But you showed him you were made of sterner stuff than all the other students he bullies. You rock Katie!"

I allowed myself a small smile, and rolled over to look at them,

"I hate him right now."

"I hate him all the time!" Angelina exclaimed, "Don't worry about it Katie, the term marks don't count for much, it's the end of year exams you've got to worry about."

"That's a relief," I said, my anger was fading away now, and there reassurance was helping calm me down.

"Seriously Katie, you're like my idol," Alicia said and the three of us laughed.

"So Zac sent you?" I asked.

"Yeah he was really worried," Alicia nodded.

"He tried to come up the staircase, but it turns into a slide if a boy tries remember?"

I remembered them telling me about a prank the Weasley twins had temporarily failed to pull, because they'd been unable to climb the staircase to the girls' dorms and nodded.

"So he sent us to make sure you were alright," Angelina finished.

"That was nice of him," I said.

"Yes, very nice of him," Alicia agreed, seeming to emphasize the entire sentence.

I don't know why that sent the pair of them off into fits of giggles.

xxxXxxx

When I descended the stairs to the common room around six thirty, I spotted Zac sitting by himself at a table in the corner of the room. He was concentrating on what I assumed was homework and I couldn't help but shake my head slightly, it was the last day of term and he was doing homework?Walking over I paused behind him, as it happened I was mistaken, he wasn't doing homework at all, rather he was drawing. I stared in surprise, I didn't know he could draw, and boy he could draw well. His current drawing was a sketch of a cat sleeping on an armchair in front of a fire. I looked up, towards the fire and smiled to see the same cat, doing the exact same thing. He had captured the image perfectly. I could see the care in which he shaped the lines, the professional eye he had for creating the shadows and giving the picture dimension. Somehow he'd managed to make the scene look cosy and warm, using only a thin piece of charcoal.

"Wow," I said, making him jump in surprise, "You're an amazing drawer!"

Zac shut the book with a snap and turned to face me, his cheeks reddening. He wouldn't meet my eye, as he muttered,

"Not really, it's just something I do when I'm bored."

I could hear the defensiveness in his tone and see it in the tension of his shoulders. I frowned slightly, noting his obvious embarrassment.

"Seriously Zac, that was...incredible. I could see the emotion you'd put into that."

If anything this only made it worse, he still wouldn't look at me, but I could see the set of his jaw.

"So are you going to make fun of me now?" He burst out, "Call me a faggot?"

"What?" I asked in shock, completely confused by his angry tone, "Of course not!"

He snorted disbelievingly and stood up, making towards the boy's staircase. I grabbed his arm and spun him around, annoyed and a little hurt by his attitude.

"What's your problem?" I demanded, completely mystified.

He looked at me for the first time and I could see the pain in his eyes, did he really expect me to tease him? For drawing? My annoyance abated and I softened my voice.

"Zac, I'm sorry if I offended you, but you are really talented. Why on earth would I make fun of you, when I couldn't even begin to replicate that picture?"

He shrugged.

"Has someone called you a faggot before?" I asked angrily.

He didn't answer, but that was enough.

"That's ridiculous! They're probably just completely jealous!"

Merlin, society is messed up. Why would anyone call an eleven year old boy a faggot for enjoying and having a talent for art?

"Zac, I don't know what people have said in the past, but they're idiots. You obviously enjoy drawing and from what I saw you are very very good at it, and anyone who says otherwise is a complete prat!"

He stared at me for a moment, seemingly confused by the aggression in my voice,

"So, you don't think it's weird?"

"No I don't, because it's _not _weird!"

"Oh."

"You're a prat," I told him, before giving him a quick hug.

"Thanks Katie," he said seriously, giving me a small smile.

I smiled back,

"Can I see some of your other drawings?" I asked hesitantly.

Zac glanced down at the nondescript black book he still held.

"I mean you don't have to," I added hastily, "but I'd really like to see some of them."

"Here," he said, holding the book out, "I don't mind."

Carefully I took the book from him and gently opened the cover. The drawings were incredible, there were one's of real life scenes like the one he'd been drawing before, portraits of people, sketches of animals and so many more. One particularly amazing one was of a dragon, perched on a large rock, it's wings slightly unfurled and gazing upwards as if it was about to take flight. The next showed the same dragon from a distance, flying above a forest. Some of the drawings had splashes of colour, but most had been done in simple charcoal. As I carefully turned the pages I saw the gradual improvement, and maturity in the drawings, slowly I began to sense emotions in the pictures as Zac began to capture parts of himself in his sketches.

"These are beautiful," I said, without looking up.

I turned the page and stopped, a smile crossing my face. It was the view of Hogwarts as seen from the Black Lake, the castle loomed up in the background, but in the foreground were the boats we had taken across, one of them was upside down and three heads were distinguishable in the water. I turned the page and saw a exaggerated cartoon style picture of Ethan, a piece of lake weed across his face. Then on the next page was drawing of me. Just my face, in the drawing I had one eyebrow raised and a slightly disbelieving smirk on my face. I couldn't help but think that Zac had made me look a lot better than I actually did, for example in his drawing my eyebrows were sculptured, my lashes were long and thick and my cheek bones were far more defined. I wasn't going to complain though, instead I just smiled and said,

"Wow, you've even managed to capture me in a way that makes my nose look normal sized!"

He chuckled slightly, knowing I was making a weak joke because seeing a drawing of myself had made me slightly uncomfortable. The next picture was of Fred and George, identical devious smirks on their faces as they crept towards an unsuspecting Angelina. However it was the next drawing that really made my breath stop. It was me. Flying on a broom, the quaffle tucked under my arm and a look of total concentration and determination on my face. There was something about my expression, something that made me think Zac knew me, that he really saw me. It was a more honest representation, I think it was at least, my elbows weren't tucked in as well as they should've been and my hair was escaping it's messy ponytail.

"I wanted to capture your determination," Zac's quiet voice startled me, "You always get such a fierce expression on your face when you fly. Whether it's happiness or complete concentration."

"It's amazing," I murmured, "You can capture so much emotion..."

"You make a good subject, you don't try and hide how you feel."

I gazed at the drawing for a few more seconds then turned the page, there were a few more, the Great Hall as it had been decorated for Halloween. Angelina, Alicia and I laughing about something. Leanne and Kieran, after their Wiggenweld potion exploded in their faces, with me cracking up in the background. The Hogwarts grounds covered in snow and another cartoon style drawing of Mrs Norris, the caretakers horrid cat, tied up in a big, red, christmas ribbon.

I handed the book back to him, stunned by both the amount of drawings it had contained and the quality of them. I felt like I'd seen something very personal, which, I realised, I had. Zac had poured a lot of himself into that book, and he had trusted me enough to show me. The thought brought a warm glow to my chest.

"I don't know what to say Zac, those were beyond words. They were so incredible, I wish I could draw half as well as you can."

"Thank you," he said simply, then after a pause added, "I've never shown anybody all of them before."

"I'm honoured," I said with a smile.

He grinned then after a moment asked,

"Are you ok? Snape was pretty harsh on you."

I nodded,

"Yeah, I was just angry. I'm fine now, thanks. Do you want to go and get some dinner?"

Zac agreed and we traipsed down to the Great Hall. After dinner, we both returned to our dormitories to gather our things together, ready to return home for Christmas. When I climbed into bed that night, I couldn't help but think back to Zac's drawings. They truly were magical, yet I couldn't help but notice that he himself never featured in any of the pictures. But then I guess he didn't need to be visually present to be a part of the drawing. Every picture seemed to contain a small piece of himself. And as I lay there in my pre-sleep haze I found myself hoping he never ran out of those small pieces, because the world would definitely be a darker place without them.

xxxXxxx

We all bordered the train back to London after breakfast the next day. Zac and I shared a compartment with Alicia and Angelina, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan and passed the time complaining about schoolwork, talking about the holidays and playing exploding snap. When the lunch trolley came around I bought a huge number of sweets, which I intended to be a part of my Dad's Christmas present. When the train rolled into the station, we helped each other lift our trunks off, before saying goodbye. I hugged the two girls tightly and wished them a Happy Christmas, had my hair ruffled by Fred and my back slapped by Lee.

"Good luck with your Aunt Muriel," I called to the redheads, as they walked away, "Don't do anything you'll regret!"

"Don't you worry Katie Bell!" Fred shouted back, "We have it all planned out."

I sighed, knowing that the identical mischievous smirks they sported were plenty reason to worry. Then I turned to Zac and gave him a big hug, which he returned after a few seconds of standing stiffly and awkwardly.

"See, hugs aren't that bad," I teased lightly.

He shook his head at me,

"Happy Christmas Katie."

"Happy Christmas Zac, have a good holiday and don't kill Ethan!"

He smirked,

"No promises there."

I laughed and began walking away, towards where I had just spotted my Dad was standing with Leanne and her parents

"See you later Zac."

He waved slightly and headed in the other direction. I quickly made my way over to my Dad and leaving my luggage I gave him a big hug.

"Hey Dad!"

He smiled,

"Hi Katie, how was school?"

I replied briefly and said hello to Leanne's parents, hugging Mrs Bright, Leanne gave me a cheerful smile, before launching into a recount of her train ride. As we made our way towards the barrier someone called my name. Turning I spotted Oliver Wood standing beside Malcolm and a well dressed woman I assumed was their mother.

"Have a good Christmas Katie!" He yelled.

"You too!" I called back, "Don't be eating too much turkey will you, I'm expecting that house cup!"

He laughed,

"Don't get too lazy without me there to run with!"

"You wouldn't even get up in the morning if you weren't scared Katie would hex you for not showing up!" Malcolm smirked.

"Nah Oliver's a Qudditch freak, he gets up all on his own," I said.

"You're both crazy, no one in their right mind would sacrifice sleep for exercise!" Malcolm said in slight disgust.

"We're dedicated!" I protested with a smile.

"Whatever!"

"He wouldn't understand Katie," Oliver chuckled, "See you in the new year!"

"Ok, happy Christmas both of you!" I shouted, before running after my Dad.

xxxXxxx

You'd think that because my school life had changed so much, with going to Hogwarts and learning magic and all that jazz, my Christmas at home would be different too. But it wasn't. It was every bit as depressing as it normally was. Dad practically shut himself away, as he did every significant holiday, and although Leanne and her family came over on Christmas Eve for dinner, which was very nice, Christmas Day was pretty boring. Dad always made an effort in the morning, we'd open our presents which normally consisted of two each, one from the Brights and one from each other, and then he'd make pancakes. After that I normally retreated to my room and all pretenses of Christmas spirit were dropped.

I was pleased to note that it had snowed overnight, when I opened my blinds on Christmas Day, I was greeted by a white winter wonderland. There was something about snow, it was so pure, not at all superficial like too many other things in the world. It was cold and made no attempt to be anything else. I dressed quickly in warm track pants and a thick red woolen jumper with a reindeer on it. Then shoving my cold feet into my slippers I made my way downstairs, past the artificial Christmas tree I had set up and decorated the previous morning and into the kitchen, where I made two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, another Christmas tradition. I had just finished making the drinks when my Dad entered the kitchen, a slightly forced smile on his face,

"Happy Christmas Katie," he said.

I smiled and gave him a hug,

"Happy Christmas!"

He accepted the mug of hot chocolate I handed him and we drifted back to the lounge where the Christmas tree was. I looked down at the foot of the tree and was surprised to see quite a few more presents than usual. Dad stopped and frowned at the tree,

"Where have those come from? Did you put them there Katie?"

"No."

We left our drinks on the coffee table and crouched down to look at the mysterious presents, I picked up one and read the tag aloud.

"Dear Katie, Happy Christmas, hope you're enjoying your holidays! Love Angelina," I read.

Looking at the others I realised they were all from my friends.

"They're from my school friends," I told Dad, "Maybe it's a magical thing, making them appear where they're supposed to?"

Dad nodded,

"That's very nice of your friends, did you get them presents?"

"Yeah, I did."

He nodded again, then smiled,

"Well open it then!"

As I began to unwrap the present Dad asked,

"Angelina's the one on the Quidditch team, right?"

"Yeah, she's one of my dorm mates."

"But she's a year older than you?"

"Yeah, I'm the only girl in my year in Gryffindor, because not many people had children during the war."

"Because of the You Know Who guy?"

I nodded as I pulled the paper off Angelina's gift, exposing a folded poster of the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch Team. From Alicia I received a pair of broomstick shaped earrings, the twins had sent a large box of chocolate frogs, Kieran had sent some fizzing wizzbees and Zac had given me my very own copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, signed by Gwenog Jones herself and a crystal potions vial, that he informed me was impervious to vanishing or smashing. In his letter he said he hoped it would come in handy if Snape held a grudge. I thought that was very sweet of him and resolved to send him a letter when Athena returned from delivering my presents. Someone needed to teach me how to make the presents appear, it would save me from exhausting my owl. Leanne and her parents had bought me a new cloak, which was velvet and a dark red to show off house pride. Mrs Bright commented it was nice to have something other than the black school cloak to wear. Dad had given me a CD player, which according to him was 'the latest technology in multi media' and had also given me a collection of CDs, including Green Day, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Radiohead. Too bad I wouldn't be able to take it to Hogwarts, Muggle electronics and magic didn't go all that well together.

Dad had loved the collection of magical things I had gotten for him, I'd given him magical sweets like Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs and Licorice Wands, a book titled "A Muggle's Guide to the Magical World" a nice feather quill and a pot of ink that flashed different colours.

"Hold on Katie! Another parcels just appeared," Dad called, I'd gathered my presents and had been about to take them up to my room, but now I paused. Placing them back on the table I went to the Christmas tree and picked up the package, there was one medium sized package, that was wrapped in festive paper with a letter tucked under the string, the words, Open the present first had been scrawled on the front. Following the instruction I pulled away the festive paper and was unable to stop a gasp from escaping my mouth. Out came two red leather gloves, with golden stitching. On the right hand palm, in golden cursive was the word Bell. They were Quidditch gloves, or more correctly Chasers gloves. And they were beautiful. Although I had an idea of who they were from, I seized the letter from where I'd placed it beside me. I unfolded it with slightly shaking hands and read the short message:

_I know that these will come in handy next year._

_Happy Christmas Katie,_

_Oliver Wood_

To my astonishment the gloves and the letter had made my eyes prickle with tears. That Oliver believed in me enough to give me my very own pair of gloves was enough to make my day. Reverently, I picked them up, the leather was soft and supple and smelt comforting, after hesitating for a moment, I stretched them open slipped my hands inside. They fit perfectly. I couldn't stop the smile that spread over my face, compared to the present I'd given him, which was a copy of the Puddlemere United Official Book, signed by all starting players, his present was amazing and so personal.

"What've you got there Kates?"

Dad's voice brought my attention back to the room, and I turned and held up the gloves, unable to stop the grin on my face from widening.

"Chasing gloves," my voice actually cracked slightly with emotion.

I couldn't read the expression on my Dad's face, he peered at me for a few seconds, before nodding and making a noise of recognition. I gathered the rest of my presents and raced upstairs to see if Athena had returned from her presents round. I wanted to let Oliver know how much his gift meant to me right away.

It was only several hours later as I watched Athena fly away to deliver my letter to Oliver that I remembered I had been going to write to Zac.

xxxXxxx

Dear Oliver,

How was your Christmas? Did you get the new Nimbus 1700 broom you wanted? If you did, I want to hear all about it! And I dibs first ride on it when we get back to school! If that's alright with you of course!

Thank you so much for the Quidditch gloves! I can't believe I now have my very own pair! And thank you for you belief in me, that's an even better present than my very own pair of Chaser's gloves!

I hope you had a good Christmas and your parents weren't too difficult, say hello to Malcolm for me!

Katie

xxxXxxx

Dear Zac

I hope you had a good Christmas! How were your grandparents and cousins? Knowing you, I bet you avoided talking to everyone! Thanks so much for my present, I can't believe you got Gwenog Jones' signature! I've already started reading 'Quidditch Through the Ages', it's so interesting! There's a load of tactical and strategic things in there I can't wait to try when we get back to Hogwarts! And the vial was really sweet too, hopefully Snape won't be that horrible, but then, that's probably overly optimistic thinking! I hope you didn't spend too much money on me Zac!

How'd you like your present? I thought maybe you could try out a few other techniques in your drawings, and I wasn't sure if wizards had such thing as water coloured pencils. Not that your drawings aren't amazing already, because they're bloody incredible if you ask me!

Do you have any plans for New Years Eve? I normally sleep over at Leanne's and we let off some fireworks, do pureblood wizards do that too?

Hope you enjoy the rest of your break, I'll see you in the New Year!

Love Katie

xxxXxxx

_Dear Katie,_

_Wow your present was so funny, I'm laughing so hard. Hardy Ha Ha Ha. An alarm clock? Seriously? Hayden, my brother, thinks it's hilarious. Especially when it woke me up this morning at eight o'clock. Damn you, sending it with the alarm already set!_

_But where are my manners? Thank you so much for your lovely Christmas present Katie, I'm sure it will come in useful if I ever feel the need to throw any thing out our dormitory window!_

_How was your Christmas? Did you do anything special? I spent the day with my grandparents and my mum's family. I saw my cousins on dad's side on Christmas Eve, you'll never guess what my cousin Jeselle told me, she's been signed to the Holyhead Harpies Reserve Team! Which meant my Christmas present from her is three tickets to their last game of the season, which is during the easter holidays! And because I am an extremely generous (and forgiving, that bloody alarm clock!) person, I've decided to take you and Alicia! _

_Anyway, I've got to go, Mum wants me to come and help her in the kitchen, Hayden's new girlfriend is coming over for dinner. He's never brought a girl home before so Mum's in a right flap, hopefully she likes Quidditch, otherwise what am I going to talk about? I suppose there's always embarrassing stories about Hayden!_

_Enjoy the rest of your holidays, I miss you!_

_Love Angie_

xxxXxxx

Dearest Angie,

You are the most wonderfully kind, generous and forgiving person I know! I can't believe you have tickets to the Harpies last match! And your cousin is on the reserve squad! I am so jealous right now Angie! Thank you so much, for the ticket though!

And thanks for my christmas present too. Sorry about yours, I lost a bet with Alicia, we decided ages ago one of us had to give you an alarm clock for Christmas and because I lost it had to be me. I have got another present for you though, that one was mainly a joke, feel free to throw it out of Gryffindor tower if you want! As for the alarm, that wasn't me, I'm not that mean! Are you sure it wasn't your darling older brother?

Speaking of Hayden, how was dinner with his girlfriend? Does she like Quidditch? Is she nice? Is she pretty? What's her name? Details please! He must be pretty serious about her if he's willing to introduce her to you though. Hopefully you didn't scare her too badly!

My Christmas was pretty good, we didn't do anything much. Leanne and I have spent New Years Eve together for years though, I normally sleepover and we let off some fireworks. What are your plans?

I miss you too!

Love Katie

xxxXxxx

_Dear Katie,_

_I'm glad you liked your present, don't worry, I didn't spend that much money! Besides my grandparents and cousins gave me more money than I know what to do with for Christmas. I'll have you know that I did speak to them, I even had a few conversations longer than two sentences with them! We only ever see them at Christmas, and my French isn't that great, besides my cousins are all snobby, because they think Beauxbatons, that's the French Magical School, is better than Hogwarts! As if!_

_One of my older cousins brought his girlfriend along and Ethan thinks he's in love. It's somewhere between absolutely hilarious and bloody pathetic! I enclosed a drawing, I'm not even exaggerating! Ethan just doesn't understand the concept 'out of his league'!_

_Thank you very much for your present, muggles have some interesting ideas about art. I really like the water colour pencils, no wizards don't have them. I used them on a drawing I did yesterday and it turned out pretty good if you ask me. Once you get the water to pencil ratio right so it doesn't leave water marks!_

_We're coming back to England for New Years, unfortunately , since Dad's Head of Department at the Ministry, we have to go to the Ministers New Years Eve Ball. It's horrible! We have to wear dress robes, which are really hot and uncomfortable, and smile and make polite conversation. And the worst part is the ballroom dancing! Mum always makes me dance with all these girls I don't know, it's dreadful! I wish you could come!_

_Say hello to Leanne for me!_

_-Zac_

xxxXxxx

Dear Zac,

That sounds horrible! I wish you the best of luck for tonight, it sounds like you're going to need it! There's nothing worse than being forced to dress up and then act like you're having a great time when really you just feel incredibly uncomfortable and self-conscious.

Your cousins are clearly delusional! Hogwarts is the best school in the history of the world! I'm proud of you for actually attempting conversation with them though! I loved your drawing of Ethan and the French girl, I wish I could've been there! I know you'll tease him about it for me though!

I'm glad you liked your present, I've got to go to Leanne's now. I'll say hello for you! Good Luck for tonight and Happy New Year!

Love Katie

xxxXxxx

_Hello Katie Bell,_

_We are writing to express our gratitude at your Christmas present. Those dungbombs came in very useful! Poor old Great Aunt Muriel nearly had a heart attack when one went off right under her chair! Unfortunately she didn't suffer from a sudden death, but fortunately she has decided not to come back for Christmas next year!_

_And it really is all thanks to you! Therefore we hope this letter finds you in good health and that you are enjoying you liberation from old Hoggywarts. _

_Best wishes in all your mischievous endeavors,_

_Gred and Forge_

xxxXxxx

Dear Gred and Forge,

I knew it was a bad idea to give you dungbombs! Remind me never to give you anything you could potentially kill someone with again! You realise she's probably written you out of her will now! You two would anger a saint!

I would like to express my own gratitude for my own Christmas present. However recent events compel me to check that you haven't spiked them with some sort of potion or anything, right?

I hope you're both enjoying your liberation too.

Happy New Year!

Love Katie

xxxXxxx

Dear Alicia,

I hope you had a nice time in Ireland, or as nice as can be expected, judging by what you said at school. How're your grandparents?

Thank you for my Christmas present, I'm wearing the earrings at the moment! Did Angelina tell you about the present she got from her cousin? I'm so excited! And very jealous of her at the same time! She reacted pretty much as we expected about the alarm clock, and it sounds like Hayden might have set the alarm on it. She thought it was me, but I didn't. Poor Angie, she never will be a morning person!

I'm off to Leanne's tonight to celebrate the New Year, are you doing anything special? I can't believe it's the last day of 1990! This year went so fast! My New Years resolution is to not put off my Transfiguration homework, I doubt it'll last long, but then New Years Resolutions are pretty much made to be broken! Have you come up with one yet?

I suppose I'd better go and finish my Transfiguration homework, I don't want to break my resolution before the new year even starts! It sucks that we only have two more days of break! Still it'll be good to see everyone again.

Happy New Year!

Love Katie

xxxXxxx

_Dear Katie,_

_I'm glad you liked the gloves. I meant what I said, I have complete confidence you will make the Gryffindor team next year, you're a natural Katie!_

_Unfortunately my parents have decided to stop funding (and encouraging) my Quidditch playing, somehow they got word that my marks for this term weren't exactly amazing and they think it's because I spend too much time playing Quidditch. Don't they know there's no such thing as too much Quidditch? Anyway, no Nimbus 1700, if I want a new broom I'll have to buy it myself. Luckily for me my grandparents have given me a small fortune for Christmas. In fact, I only need sixty galleons more then I'll be able to afford the broom! Hopefully my parents don't find out what I plan to do, otherwise they'll probably confiscate the money. When I do get the broom though, you'll be the first to have a ride, after me of course, my generosity only stretches so far!_

_Can you believe it's 1991 already? I had to go to a stupid Ministry ball last night, at least Ethan and Zac were there, otherwise I might have torn my too tight dress robes off and set them on fire just to spite all those stuffy Ministry workers! _

_Happy New Year! I'll see you in a few days._

_-Oliver Wood_

xxxXxxx

_Hey Katie,_

_I've just gotten back from Ireland. It was every bit as boring as I expected. So boring that I actually can't wait to get back to Hogwarts. Is that sad or what? My grandparents were good, they were nice and my grandmother makes the best brownies, there was just nothing to do! And they were constantly playing this old music that set my teeth on edge! But they were very doting and I've definitely put on weight from eating to much of Gran's cooking._

_I'm glad you liked the earrings, I was a little worried, you know how they say jewelry's a personal thing. Thanks for my present too! I've been wanting a new scarf for a while now, but I guess my constant complaints clued you in on that!_

_I'm so excited for going to see the Harpies too! It should be super awesome! Angie is so lucky having her cousin on the reserves, I bet she'll get heaps of deals and free merchandise and stuff! But then she's taking us to their final game of the season, so I won't complain! _

_So no death threats about the alarm clock? Poor Angie, I wouldn't put it past Hayden to do that! Did you hear he has a girlfriend? Angie's being quite quiet about it, hopefully nothing too terrible happened when she came over for dinner the other night. _

_Katie, you won't keep that resolution for a week! I'm resolving to be more tolerant of Fred and George's pranks and mischief making. I doubt I'll keep that for very long either. Did you hear what they did to their Aunt? What were you thinking giving them dungbombs Katie?_

_I hope you had a good time at Leanne's, we had a very quiet New Years, I didn't even stay up to midnight! I can't believe we have to go back to school tomorrow! I'll see you at Kings Cross._

_Love Alicia_

xxxXxxx

**Thank you very much for reading, and special thanks to everyone that followed or Favourited this story. An extra special thanks to **_iceandfire105, AvrilFrings, ConstantNR, Evelyn _**and**_ Hpnarnianfan1504 _**for their lovely reviews!**

**Review and let me know what you think!**

**-Infinity Lily**


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